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!
