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Daffodils: A Gathering (3 of 4)

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From “Narcissi” in The Lore and Legends of Flowers by Robert L. Crowell, illustrated by Anne Ophelia Dowden:

“There are many strains of native narcissus, and their hybrid descendants have greatly swelled the number. To add to the confusion, there is confusion in the terms! The daffodil, the jonquil, and the narcissus are all kinds of narcissus and are within the meaning of the Latin term narcissi, but not everyone knows where one leaves off and the others begin. To add to the confusion, narcissus is a common name for one of the kinds of narcissus! For the sake of convenience, here are three very broad categories:

“(1) The daffodil or trumpet type — this includes Narcissus pseudo-narcissus and is recognized by its big central trumpet, which is like the mouthpiece of an old-fashioned telephone. It is the parent of almost all of our big-trumpet daffodils.

“(2) The jonquil, which is yellow but sports different hues of yellow from those of the daffodil. The jonquil has rushlike leaves, and the flowers are clustered on each stem.

“(3) The narcissus, which has white petals and sepals and a cup often edged with orange or red.

“Within these large categories the species and varieties are legion. The ‘common’ daffodil (Narcissus pseudo-narcissus), which delighted Wordsworth and which enlivens the window boxes of London each April, is found among trees and in thickets in many parts of northern Europe. The ‘hoop petticoat’ narcissus, with its crown flared out like the skirt of a ballet dancer, makes its home in southern France and Morocco. Narcissus tazetta, the most widely distributed of all, is especially partial to Eurasia and the Canary Islands. Narcissus jonquilla is native to southern Europe and Algeria. Indeed, the Iberian peninsula is a stronghold of many species that survive in the wild.”

From “A Daffodil Code” in Daffodil: Biography of a Flower by Helen O’Neill:

“To humans Narcissus tazetta has simply always been there. It has journeyed far from its original home in south-western Europe and gathered many names on the way, from Polyanthus Narcissus, Nosegay Daffodils, Paperwhites, Suisen (by the Japanese), Joss Flower to Chinese Sacred Lily in China, where it is considered auspicious.”

From “Early Spring (1860)” in Poems of John Clare’s Madness, edited by Geoffrey Grigson:

The spring is come, and spring flowers coming too,
The crocus, patty kay, the rich heartsease;
The polyanthus peeps with blebs of dew,
And daisy flowers; the buds swell on the trees;
While o’er the odd flowers swim grandfather bees.
In the old homestead rests the cottage cow;
The dogs sit on their haunches near the pale,
The least one to the stranger growls ‘bow-wow’,
Then hurries to the door and cocks his tail,
To gnaw the unfinished bone; the placid cow
Looks o’er the gate; the thresher’s lumping flail
Is all the noise the spring encounters now

Hello!

This is the third of four posts exploring four daffodil varieties that I photographed at Oakland Cemetery earlier this year. The first post about Narcissus pseudonarcissus is Daffodils: A Gathering (1 of 4); and the second post about Narcissus × incomparabilis is Daffodils: A Gathering (2 of 4).

This post has photos of Narcissus tazetta, a daffodil species with a long history going back to antiquity whose descendants often appear in Victorian gardens like Oakland, with a naturalization history that extends throughout many of the southeastern states in the United States. And as we discussed in the previous post, wild or genetically engineered pairings of Narcissus tazetta with Narcissus pseudonarcissus produce the Incomparable Daffodil, Narcissus × incomparabilis.

Across the two excerpts and the poem at the top of this post, you’ll see quite a few of Narcissus tazetta’s common names. There are others as well, and here’s a list — which may or may not be exhaustive — of the common names (alphabetical of course) that I came across while learning more about the tazettas:

Bunch-flowered Daffodil
Bunch-flowered Narcissus
Chinese Sacred Lily
Cream Narcissus
French Daffodil
Joss Flower
Nosegay Daffodils
Paperwhite
Polyanthus Daffodil
Polyanthus Narcissus
Paperwhites
Suisen

Some of these names reflect regional naming conventions, adapted to English, like French Daffodil and Suisen — an anglicized Japanese term that, used in an internet search, will take you to images of and articles about Narcissus tazetta. Chinese Sacred Lily and Joss flower have similar regional meanings but with an additional ceremonial connotation, as “joss” refers to Chinese religious objects. Paperwhite crosses floral boundaries, since it’s also a descriptive name for Amaryllis — especially forced Amaryllis that often occupy western homes around the Christmas holiday — and the visual similarity between the two probably led to the name’s cross-pollination, as well as the fact that their plant family Amaryllidaceae includes both Narcissus and Amaryllis. The remaining terms refer more closely to the plants’ botanical characteristics, especially Bunch-flowered, Nosegay, and Polyanthus — all of which describe the way the tazetta flowers often split off from a single stem and cluster together as if in a bouquet.

So what’s in a name? Many, many things — apparently!

Thanks for reading and taking a look!

Daffodils: A Gathering (2 of 4)

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From “When Daffodils Begin to Peer” in The Garden’s Story (1889) by George H. Ellwanger:

“Hybrids in the genus Narcissus are very readily made, and undoubtedly any species of the genus, under favorable conditions, will form a hybrid with any other species of it; and several of these kinds which are considered by botanists as species, seem to be hybrids; that is, they can be imitated by crossing two other species of the genus….

“The best-known instance of this is the so-called species Narcissus incomparabilis. A cross between N. pseudo-narcissus and N. poeticus produces in some instances a daffodil which can not be distinguished from this; but the same cross may also produce results varying in the degree of each parent they contain, varying in the color, size of trumpet, and other particulars. These varieties are found wild on European mountains at elevations where N. poeticus and N. pseudo-narcissus flower simultaneously with the melting of the snow….”

From “The Medium-Crown Hybrids: Narcissus incomparabilis” in Daffodils, Narcissus, and How to Grow Them by Arthur Martin Kirby: 

“This is one of the most important sections of the medium-crown group. The type, wild over a large area throughout Southwestern Europe, was long considered a species, but comparatively recent proofs including artificial crosses between N. Pseudo-Narcissus and N. poeticus which reproduced the identical plant and flower, have caused N. incomparabilis to be generally recognised as a natural hybrid. There are now many varieties — mostly garden crosses. The distinguishing characteristic is a cup-shaped crown, one-third to three-quarters the length of the petals.

“Practically all the varieties may be depended upon for any purpose; they make charming pot plants and are graceful and un-excelled as cut flowers, showy for beds and borders and most effective for naturalising. The richness of colouring in the cup varies according to season and conditions of soil and exposure.”

From “On a Morning in May” by W. J. Turner in Poems of Today: Fourth Series by The English Association:

The Lilac is in flower, blue and white;
Laburnum drops its canopy of gold;
In their green tents the Limes’ dark limbs and cold
A heady effervescence of leaf-light
Bare to the Sun. Like bathers now upright
After a plunge Poplars their arms afold
Shiver with joy. Willows their heads unpolled
Bend to the stream their nymph-like tresses bright.
The grass is thick with bluebells, here and there
By a Narcissus’ star a drake’s bronzed head
Lifts from his wing, his squatting harem’s pride;
Tulips in vivid camps spread everywhere
Their turban-coloured joy. Bees bubbling tread
In mazy flight the air’s blue mountain side.

Hello!

This is the second of four posts exploring four daffodil varieties that I photographed at Oakland Cemetery earlier this year. The first post is Daffodils: A Gathering (1 of 4).

In that first post, I showed the varieties in a four-image gallery as a preview of the photos in this series. Just below I’ve repeated part of that gallery, reducing it to these three: Narcissus pseudonarcissus (top left), Narcissus tazetta (top right), and Narcissus × incomparabilis — the subject of this post…

… to show their visual relationships because Narcissus × incomparabilis is a hybrid of the other two. Its status as a natural versus developed hybrid gets much attention in daffodil literature, leading finally to the conclusion that this hybrid occurs naturally — and in abundance — in Europe’s wild landscapes. That’s not to imply that the specimens I photographed here are such natural hybrids, but simply that Narcissus × incomparabilis can exist as a hybrid independent of human intervention. Narcissus × incomparabilis is commonly called the Incomparable Daffodil directly from its scientific name and the reverence attributed to it by its fans. It’s also referred to as Chalice Daffodil and Chalice Narcissus (reflecting religious cultural connotations), or — echoing its incomparable appearance and status — Nonesuch Daffodil, Peerless Daffodil, and Star Daffodil.

That the plant in the third photo (Narcissus × incomparabilis) is a hybrid of the other two (Narcissus pseudonarcissus and Narcissus tazetta) can lead us to some informative observations about their visual similarities and differences. Note how the corona in Narcissus × incomparabilis is similar in both shape and color to the corona of Narcissus pseudonarcissus in the first image. As you look through the rest of the galleries below, you can see the intensity of yellow in coronas varies from a light, pale yellow above to a more saturated version, an indication that Narcissus × incomparabilis inherited the yellow color but expresses it in varying intensities.

That the Narcissus × incomparabilis corona is short compared to Narcissus pseudonarcissus reflects traits it inherited from the plant in the second image, where Narcissus tazetta is shown to possess a much more compact corona. And you can also see how Narcissus tazetta has contributed to the shapes of Narcissus × incomparabilis flower petals, which have evolved as rounded petals like those of Narcissus tazetta rather than the more oblong, pointed petals of Narcissus pseudonarcissus. What is made visible by comparing three related plants and differentiating the appearance of their common structures becomes a genetic or scientific study in itself, and, in the case of these three daffodils, shows us how one plant has evolved to contain characteristics, sometimes modified but abstractly similar, of its two parents.

Thanks for reading and taking a look!

Daffodils: A Gathering (1 of 4)

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From “Lent Lilies” in Garden Bulbs for the South by Scott Ogden:

“February in the South is a season of false promises. Unsuspecting blossoms are lured out during warm spells, only to be brutally reproached with the blue winds of northers. Strangely enough, there are certain plants whose peculiar demeanor suits them to this chancy weather. None is more welcome in gardens than the wild trumpet daffodil, or Lent lily, Narcissus pseudonarcissus.

“These wildlings are the earliest flowering of their race, usually appearing at the beginning of February. Perhaps because of the coldness of the season, the stems never reach as high as the daffodils that follow. The entire plant generally stays only six to eight inches tall.

“Despite this low stature, the blooms reach a respectable two to three inches in length. These proportions give the plants the charming aspect of alpine miniatures. Pale yellow, dog-eared petals frame the deeper yellow trumpets.

“The Lent lily is a wild European daffodil introduced to the South by early settlers. It has since spread far and wide in gardens, and has seeded and naturalized in fields and along roadsides. Although much like modern daffodils in construction, these wildflowers have a more relaxed appearance than their pedigreed descendants.

“Daffodils are strangely built flowers, with a unique apparatus for attracting pollinators and protecting pollen and nectar. The value of this becomes immediately apparent with an early flower like the Lent lily. All you need do is stand for a moment in a cold February sleet storm to appreciate the advantage of the trumpet-shaped coronas, which provide shelter to pollen and to the brave bees and other insects who venture out to visit the blossoms.”

From “The Groves of Blarney” by Richard Alfred Milliken in The Penguin Book of Irish Verse, introduced and edited by Brendan Kennelly: 

The groves of Blarney
They look so charming,
Down by the purling
Of sweet, silent brooks,
Being banked with posies
That spontaneous grow there,
Planted in order
By the sweet ‘Rock Close’.
‘Tis there the daisy
And the sweet carnation,
The blooming pink
And the rose so fair,
The daffodowndilly,
Likewise the lily,
All flowers that scent
The sweet, fragrant air…

Hello!

This is the first of four posts exploring four daffodil varieties that were mixing it up at Oakland Cemetery earlier this year. Oakland’s daffodils tend to flood the grounds from late February through the end of March, with some later-bloomers extending into early April. They’re often harbingers of the early or late arrival of spring — like this year, when warmer temperatures brought them out about eleven days earlier than usual because they’re more responsive to the environmental conditions than to the dates on our calendars.

Here are examples of the four varieties…

… that I’ve identified (from left to right, top to bottom) as Narcissus pseudonarcissus, Narcissus × incomparabilis, Narcissus tazetta, and Narcissus poeticus. Each species has its own stories to reveal, and comparing them to each other can lead to an unlimited number of related threads about their botanical and breeding characteristics, their history, and how they’ve been used in garden landscaping over several centuries. And comparing just these four — selected from dozens of species present on Oakland’s grounds — shows how visually diverse daffodils really are, from the more commonly recognized flower form in the first photo to something that almost looks like a plant from another species in the last photo. Identifying individual daffodil species can be a challenge, but this quad shows how the length and shape of the flowers’ coronas vary among them, and how the flower petals demonstrate varying degrees of length as well as curved or pointed edges — and these two characteristics together can be used to sort out their correct names.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus has the longest corona and with similarly long petals surrounding it; Narcissus × incomparabilis has a wider, flatter corona, often ruffled, with shorter curved flower petals; Narcissus tazetta typically has a short but bright red-orange corona with round (slightly crumpled, especially as they age) flower petals; and Narcissus poeticus has petals that are similar to those of Narcissus tazetta but makes itself distinct by a corona with a colorful edge that led to one of its common names, Pheasant-eye Daffodil. Pheasant-eye coronas are often saturated yellow with red-orange edging; but the ones I photographed this year have a much lighter, nearly white ground color that is actually a blend of pale yellow and very light green. This could mean the flowers had aged enough that the yellow component had faded; or, as likely, they’re simply a variant that produces a whiter corona. Either way, I found them interesting because the coronas were so close to white, a presentation I had not seen before in my stomps through Oakland.

Most of the daffodils in this post and the second one live here…

… where they add color to the corner of a large field and are somewhat sheltered by a Japanese Maple and surrounding shrubs. Our first species — Narcissus pseudonarcissus — is the quintessential daffodil, featuring the easily recognized yellow-orange color with flowers that often tip or nod, happily toward the sun. These are the “golden daffodils” starring in the well-known poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth, where their prominent billing introduces many starry, twinkling, dancing, waving, and colorful metaphors that persist to this day. Narcissus pseudonarcissus has acquired numerous common names over centuries — such as Wild Daffodil, Lent Lily or Lenten Lily, and Bell Rose. Their intriguing folk-name Daffodowndilly (or Daffadowndilly) can be found as far back as the sixteenth century (in The Herball, or, Generall historie of plantes by John Gerard) and in many poems such as Daffodowndilly by A. A. Milne and the excerpt from “The Groves of Blarney” by Richard Alfred Milliken that I included up-top. Common names that seem to cross species — like lily or rose for daffodils — are not unusual, as we’ve often seen here among my posts, and reflect visual similarities among plants and flowers from early botanical study that are never quite shaken off by later, more precise species or family identifications.

Thanks for reading and taking a look!