1884.] 
THE NARCISSUS FAMILY. 
67 
THE NAECISSUS FAMILY. 
ilCISSI have latterly engaged a large 
share of public attention, and they 
well deserve it, for they furnish us 
with a profusion of varied and bright 
and cheery flowers in the early months of 
spring, when flowers are ever welcome. A 
very successful meeting, under the dignified 
title of a “ Narcissus Congress,” was held at 
South Kensington on April 1, by the Royal 
Horticultural Society, and excited so much 
interest that we hope similar meetings may 
follow. A Tulip Congress, for example, might 
do something to extend the cultivation of these 
brilliantly variegated flowers ; and a Primrose 
Congress would be so full of interest and 
variety that it could not all be crowded into 
one sitting. 
On the occasion above referred to a very 
interesting paper on the Narcissus, of which 
the following is an abstract, was read by 
Mr. F. W. Burbidge, Curator of the College 
Botanic Garden, Dublin, and gave rise to an 
interesting discussion, which resulted in the 
adoption of a resolution affirming the desirable¬ 
ness of naming garden varieties of Narcissus, 
whether hybrids or seedlings, in the manner 
adopted by florists, and not in the manner 
adopted by botanists, the object being to obtain, 
as far as possible, English instead of Latin 
names. Mr. Burbidge, after some remarks 
on the History and Nomenclature of the flower 
—the Narcissus or Flower of March, the 
Daffodil—that “ comes before the swallow 
dares,” went on to say :— 
Narcissus is a genus of bulbous plants belonging 
to the natural order, of which the Amaryllis is the 
type. But Narcissus differs from Au)ar 3 llis proper 
in having a crown or corona, and thus represents 
not so much Amaryllis itself, as the Pancratium and 
Hymenocallis of the new world. Tbe Narcissus 
flower has an inferior ovary, situated at the base of a 
cylindrical or obconical tube; at varying points 
along this tube spring six perianth divisions arranged 
in two series, and beyond these come the cup or 
crown. 
Among the Narcissi generally two well-marked 
and distinct variations in the flowers are met with. 
In the Daffodils, the six stamens are of equal length, 
and have the same point of insertion low down near 
the obconical tube ; but in the true or Poet’s Nar¬ 
cissus the tube is much longer and quite cylindrical, 
and the six stamens are divided into two sets of 
three, each set having its own point of insertion— 
three near the mouth, and the other three further 
down the tube. Nearly all the variations of which 
a Narcissus flower is capable, are owing to the sliding, 
as it were, of the whorl of perianth segments along 
the tube of the flower; thus we find the length of 
the cup or crown, and the length of the tube, 
always, or nearly always, vary in inverse proportion. 
Some superficial distinctions are produced by the 
manner and degree of expansion usual to the peri¬ 
anth divisions. In the Hooped Petticoat (Narcissus 
Bulbocodium), for example, the perianth divisions 
are narrow and inconspicuous, lying in the same 
plane with the corona margins ; in the common 
Daffodil the perianth lobes are broader and more 
expanded; in N. incomparabilis and in N. poeticus 
they are expanded at right angles to the tube, and 
so become star-like; so also in the “Little Cupped 
Italian,” or Narcissus Tazetta group; while in the 
case of Narcissus triandrus we get a very distinct 
Cyclamen-like blossom, seeing that the perianth 
lobes are sharply reflexed or turned back, so that 
they lie parallel with the pendent flower-tube. In 
colour the Narcissi, are not so variable as many other 
bulbed flowers. "VVe get all shades of yellow and of 
white in the perianth, and one species, N. viridijlorus, 
known to Parkinson, and recently reintroduced by Mr. 
George Maw, has green blossoms. In N. incompara¬ 
bilis we find cups richly tinted with orange-red, so 
also in some forms of N. Tazetta, while N. poeticus 
has a red or purple rim to the crown. 
We have in all about twenty species of Narcissus, 
known to exist in a wild state. Nearly all these 
are found wild in Europe. Spain and the South of 
Prance seem to be the focus of the genus, but a few 
occur in N. Africa, and Tazetta is most ubiquitous, 
growing all over S. Europe and N. Africa, and then 
going off at a tangent, through Persia, Cashmere, and 
India, as far east as China and Japan. 
The Species of Narcissus, and their 
Distribution. 
Flat-leaved Species. 
1. N. Pseudo-Narcis¬ 
sus 
2. N. incomparabilis 
3. N. Macleai 
4. N.dubius. 
5. N. poculiformis 
(montan us) ... 
6. N. Tazetta 
7. N. pachybolbus ... 
8. N. biflorus 
9. N. poeticus 
10. N. Brou^sonetii... 
11. N. canariensis ... 
Native Countries. 
Sweden, England, Portugal, 
Spain, Italy, and Tran¬ 
sylvania 
Spam, S. W. Prance, Tyrol 
Not wild 
S. Prance (Toulon, Avig¬ 
non, Marseilles, Nice) 
Not wild 
S. Europe, Cashmere, N. 
India, China, Japan 
Algeria (? N. Tazetta var.) 
Prance, Switzerland, Italy, 
Tyrol 
S. Europe, Prance to Greece 
Mogadore (Africa) 
Canary Islands 
Pusli-leaved Species. 
12. N. Bulbocodium 
13. N. odorus. 
14. N. juncifolius 
15. N. triandrus 
16. N. calathinus 
17. N. intermedius ... 
18. N. gracilis. 
19. N. Jonquilla 
20. N. jonquilloides ... 
21. N. viridiflorus 
22. N. elegans. 
23. N. serotinus 
Spain, Portugal, Prance, 
S.W. to Bordeaux, N. 
Africa 
Spain, S. Prance, Italy, 
Dalmatia 
Spain and S. Prance 
Spain 
Isles of Glenan, Brittany 
Spain, S. Prance, Balearic 
Isles 
Not wild 
Spain, S. Prance, Italy to 
Dalmatia 
Spain 
Spain and Barbary 
Italy, Sicily, Algiers 
Spain, S. Europe, Barbary, 
Greece, and Palestine 
Parkinson in 1629, described or figured ninety-six 
species and varieties, and is very particular that we 
