500 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 9, 1892. 
DAFFODILS & NARCISSI.* 
Who, that loves flowers for their own sake, does not 
keep a warm corner in his heart for the Daffodil of 
the English meadows ? And where is the flower, ex¬ 
cepting the Rose, that has been such a favourite 
theme in poetry and prose as the Daffodil ? That 
“ Perfumed amber cup, which when March comes, 
Gems the dry woods and windy wolds, 
And speaks the resurrection.” 
From Ovid to Tennyson, the sweet singers of the 
world have stooped in their loftiest flights to caress 
and fondle with loving phrase the flower which Keats 
truly called “ a thing of beauty and a joy for ever.” 
'* How sweet they show to weary eyes, 
These hardy, yellow blooms that rise 
On slender, fluted stalks ! 
They need no culture, thought, or care, 
But spring with spring-time free and fair 
O’er all our common walks. 
On meadow green, by leafy hedge, 
In woodland shade, and rushy sedge, 
By little lowly rills ; 
While yet the north wind blows his blast, 
Before the storm and sleet are past, 
Laugh out the Daffodils.” 
Then there are Herrick’s beautiful lines lamenting 
the hastening away of this goddess of the spring. 
Wordsworth has, in imperishable verse, sung the 
praises of the Daffodil; Shakespeare and the minor 
poets again and again refer to it; and the present 
Poet Laureate has often told its beauty. It may, in¬ 
deed, with much truth be said that the Daffodil has 
become indelibly fixed in the affections of the English 
people, grafted on English sentiment, and deeply 
embedded in the imperishable literature of this 
country. Wherein, then, lies the great charm of 
this flower? Not because of aggressive gaudiness 
of hue, for it can never be charged with that. Not 
because of rarity or proud reserve, for it unfolds its 
bewitching beauty to the peasant as freely as to the 
peer. Nor does it steal the heart away by the sub- 
tilty of perfume, which many of its coquettish sisters 
of the floral world employ to draw admirers. The 
charm of the Daffodil lies in its quiet, latent beauty, 
which grov's upon those who love it, its dignity of 
form, its graceful, maidenly demeanour, and its 
ever-smiling face under its crown of gold. In a 
country walk in spring what more beautiful sight is 
there than that of a fresh English meadow revealing 
"A host of golden Daffodils 
* * * * 
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” 
What applies to the Daffodils of the meadows ap¬ 
plies with equal force to their more refined sisters of 
the gardens. All Daffodils are lovely. 
Derivation of Name and Country of Origin. 
Daffodil is the popular and Narcissus is the proper 
name. All Daffodils are Narcissi, or pseudo- 
Narcissi, but there are many kinds of Narcissi that 
are not Daffodils in any sense whatever The poet's 
or pheasant-eyed Narcissus, for instance. The name 
" Daffodil ” is altogether English in its association 
and in its application, and it is very probably a 
corruption of the word ‘ ’ asphodel ’’ (from asphodelus). 
Spenser, an early English poet, writes of 
" Thy sommer prowde with Diffadillies dight,” 
And in another passage he calls them ” Daffodown- 
dillies.” Shakespeare speaks of the 
” Daffodils 
That come before the swallow dares, 
And take the wdnds of March with beauty ; ” 
while Tennyson calls it the " April Daffodilly.” 
There is little doubt but that the word originally 
came from asphodel, the transition being both easy 
and natural. There is an old English word " affodil ” 
or “ affodvle,” which means “ an early flower," which 
would exactly apply to this flower. The name 
“ Lent Lily" is still more obvious, the plant flowering 
about the time of Lent It is in some parts of 
Devonshire called " Bell Rose,” a by no means far¬ 
fetched name if you take the trumpet to represent 
the bell and the pistil and stamens to represent the 
clapper. They are called ” Gracie Daisies ” in some 
parts. The name Narcissus carries us into the 
higher walks of literature. According to classical 
mythology, Narcissus was a beautiful youth, who 
one day saw his image reflected in the waters of a 
fountain, and, thinking it was the nymph or goddess 
of the place, fell in love with it. But then, as now, 
the course of true love did not run smooth, so, after 
vainly attempting to embrace the object of his love, 
• A Paper read by Mr. A. Hope, at the meeting of the Devon 
and Exeter Gardeners’ Association, on March 30th. 
he, in a fit of despair, took his life. His blood was 
changed into a flower. The nymphs raised a funeral 
pile to burn his body, according to the ideas of 
cremation then prevailing, and from the ashes arose 
the beautiful flower now known to us as the Poet’s 
Narcissus, because of the Greek poets having so 
faithfully preserved this authorised version of the 
tragedy. Another story, equally well vouched for, 
is that Narcissus awakened a responsive chord in the 
heart of the nymph Echo, but he unfeelingly 
permitted her to feel the pangs of unrequited love. 
Nemesis, in order to punish him for this, changed 
him into this flower. 
The Narcissus was held to be a flower of the 
gods, and was used to make coroneis for the Grecian 
goddesses. An ancient writer says :—“ Ever day by 
day, the Narcissus, with its beauteous clusters, the 
ancient coronet of the mighty goddesses, burst into 
bloom by heaven's dew.” A less lovable association 
is given in the legend that the flower was consecrated 
to the Furies, and was used by them to stupefy 
their victims by causing them to inhale the odour of 
masses of these flowers until they fainted. In 
an old manuscript in Lincoln Cathedral Library 
occurs the following :—" Flour of Daffodil is a cure 
for madness.” This, taken in conjunction with the 
idea that the odour of Narcissi caused stupor, is 
perhaps an illustration of the old belief that "like 
cured like." Then, again, it has been contended 
that the Narcissus is identical with the biblical Rose 
of Sharon, from the fact that the Narcissus grows 
plentifully in the Valley of Sharon, and that the 
Hebrew word is equivalent to the current Arabic 
name for the Narcissus. Daffodils and Narcissi, in 
their wild state, are mainly European, although one 
of the trumpet varieties —the old-fashioned hoop 
petticoat Daffodil—is found wild in North Africa, and 
the Narcissus Tazetta, or bunch flowered Narcissus, 
grows wild in the Canary Islands, Cashmere, Ghina, 
and Japan. Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus — our 
common Lent Lily—is said to be the only truly wild 
variety found in this country. Of course, now and 
again, one comes across other varieties growing 
wild ; but they are, when careful inquiry is made, 
found to be escapes from cultivation, or cultivated 
roots that have become naturalized. Some time ago 
it was stated that the giant " Sir Watkin,’’ though 
discovered in a Welsh garden, was of Devonian 
origin, and had been carried from Bideford by a 
mining captain named Byers, who settled in Wales 
and took the bulbs with him. I fear the evidence is 
insufficient. When the assertion was made it was 
challenged, and with a view of helping to unravel 
the tangled skein, I wrote to the Devonshire 
newspapers asking if anyone could find out anything 
about it. Although that was two years ago I have 
had no reply or communication upon the subject. I 
asked an enthusiastic gardening amateur in the 
Bideford district to enquire about it, but his research 
is also fruitless. "Queen Anne's Daffodil” (Nar¬ 
cissus Copax), was supposed to be of Devonian birth 
also, but that cannot be proved. Although I do not 
think it the least likely that any other species will 
be found wild in Devonshire than the one to which I 
refer, it is by no means improbable that a diligent 
search might reveal some varieties not hitherto con¬ 
sidered indigenous. The Tenby Daffodil (Narcissus 
Obvallaris) is a naturalised variety. The most 
widely spread of the family is the bunch flowered or 
Polyanthus Narcissus (N. tazetta), so called from the 
Italian word tazetta, meaning a little cup, and 
referring to the shape of its flowers. Early writers 
referred to it as the Narcissus of Constantinople. 
It is. however, found in many parts of the world, 
especially in the East. No new kinds of Polyan¬ 
thus Narcissi have been introduced lately, unless the 
so-called Sacred Lily of China be considered one. 
On the other hand, many new trumpet varieties 
have been added from Spain and the valleys of the 
Pyrenees. Only this spring a new bicolor variety 
of Narcissus Johnstoni has been found near Oporto, 
and it is said to be very distinct. 
Classification and Structure. 
I fear that, with many people, all the Trumpet 
Daffodils are put down as Lent Lilies more or less 
diversified by cultivation,but I need hardly remind a 
society of gardeners that this is far from being the 
truth, or the whole truth, and, indeed has but a small 
grain of truth in it. How many varieties there are 
now in commerce it would be difficult to say. Mr. 
Peter Barr, a well-known collector, put it to me at 
over 500. At all events there are not less than 500 
so very distinct as to be easily distinguishable by an 
amateur. It is rather a singular thing that a family 
of so many tribes and sub-divisions should not be a 
natural order in itself, but so it is. There is no such 
natural order in botany as the Narcissus. It belongs 
to the Amaryllidaceae or Amaryllis family. The 
hoop-petticoat Narcissus, in the arrangement of ts 
pistil and stamens, shows the family resemblance 
most strongly. The Snowdrop belongs to the same 
natural order. Broadly speaking, the Trumpet¬ 
shaped Narcissi, of which the Lent Lily is the com¬ 
mon type, are called Daffodils ; and in this are in. 
eluded the " Incomparable” Narcissi, like " Sir Wat- 
kin,” and others, with a shortened trumpet. When 
the term Narcissus is used in the popular sense, it 
applies to the flat-crowned sorts like the Pheasant¬ 
eyed Narcissus and the Polyanthus or Bunch- 
flowered. These are, indeed, true Narcissi. This 
distinction is a popular, rather than a botanical one, 
although the two branches of the family are structu¬ 
rally distinct also. In a Trumpet Daffodil the sta¬ 
mens (six in number) are of an equal length. In the 
true Narcissus three come to the level of the crown, 
the other three stopping midway in the tube. There 
are three natural groups, or families, or tribes, and 
these are known by their corona or crown, the first 
called Magnicoronati, or great-crowned, the second, 
Mediicoronati, or medium-crowned, the third, Parvi- 
coronati, or small-crowned. For a homely descrip¬ 
tion, these may be call the grand trumpeter or coffee 
cup section, the chalice cupped or tea cup section, 
and the Poet’s Narcissus or tea saucer section. For 
those who think that a yet shorter description might 
have been found, a wag at the Daffodil Conference 
suggested for every-day use, the terms " long noses," 
“short noses,” and "flat noses.” Perhaps there 
was more in his racy description than he was aware 
of, for there is much to be said in favour of a good 
nose—in Daftodils at all events. 
As a good and unmistakable type of the great 
crowned, Maximus, Horsfieldii, and Golden Spur 
serve as examples. Of the medium crowned, Sir 
Watkin, Queen Bess, and Stella show the type. The 
Pheasant-eyed or Poet's Narcissus is a good illustra¬ 
tion of the small crowned. The question of colour, 
as in the case of Horsfieldii (a bicolor), has no 
bearing upon this matter. Jonquils have, as their 
distinguishing characteristic, round, rush-like leaves, 
instead of flat leaves as the other Narcissi have. But 
the little hoop-petticoat variety, and the cyclamen- 
flowered triandrus, as well as N. intermedius and 
N. gracilis, have rush-like leaves. Much attention 
has been given these past few years to a variety of 
the Polyanthus Narcissus, called the Chinese Sacred 
Lily, or Joss Flower, or Gcod Luck Lily. In Canton 
it is called Shui Sin Fa, or the Water Fairy Flower. 
Some florists tried to identify it with varieties in 
British commerce, but it seemed to vary from them 
all. It appears to be a single or semi-double form of 
the Double Roman [?J. The bulbs are grown 
in a kind of greasy grey mud-like sand, and are 
sent to Canton for sale before flowering time. They 
are much prized by the Chinese, who grow them in 
little shallow bowls filled with pebbles and water. 
A Chinaman is happy when he can have his Good 
Luck Lily in bloom on New Year’s Day, which nearly 
corresponds in date to our St. Valentine's Day. As 
we decorate our churches at Christmas and Easter, 
so the almond-eyed Celestial decorates his Joss-house 
at the festival of the New Year. Whether this 
custom prevails in Joss-houses out of China I cannot 
say. 
(To be continued.) 
-- 
AMARYLLIS AT HOLLOWAY. 
The brilliant sunshine of the past week has had a 
most invigorating effect upon the inmates of plant 
houses generally, but perhaps in no department is its 
forcing effect so markedly observable as in the case of 
collections of Amaryllis, which have literally come 
into flower with a bound. The Amaryllis house in 
Messrs. B. S. Williams & Sons’ nursery at Holloway 
is just now a veritable blaze of bloom, and together 
with the Clivia house, illustrated in a recent issue, 
and which still contains a really remarkable display 
of bloom, forms the centre of attraction in the nur¬ 
sery for the moment 
By the aid of relays the Amaryllis house will be 
kept gay for some weeks to come, the last to flower 
being the younger stock, mostly seedlings, of which 
