THE GARDEN.

Otaki Mail, Volume 26, 22 August 1919, Page 4

THE GARDEN.

• WHAT IS A DAFFODIL? Somerset, writing in the "Garden," says: "What is a daffodil? What is a narcissus? These questions are asked time-and again, and with thc_ coming of the spring bulb shows will be asked again. John Dicks calls them all narcissus in 1771, and so it has continued up to the present time. But is it not a curious thing if the matter is so simple there should .have been up to the present day a more or less general > belief among daffodil growers that a narcissus is nor necessarily a daffodil, j Language is a freakish old person, but ■ there is one thing in which she is notor j iously consistent, and that is her regard for economy. None of her words has a sinecure. If they do not work, neither shall they live. Perhaps I may be allowed to stats what I have always understood to be the ground covered by the two words. I cannot quote authorities, but' venture to state what I have always considered the scope of the two words. Narcissus is the generic word and covers the • whole Tribe regardless of form. .Daffodil, on' the other hand, was a name in use for certain forms of narcissus which were common in old English gardens, namely, the Lent Lily, the' Peerless narcissus, and the Hoop Petticoat. The poly- j antlius narcissus was not, a common A flower of English gardens, but was a ] Dutch florist's flower. The narcissus | by pre-eminence was that, which was | believed to be the narcissus of the j Greek and Latin poets, narcissus poet- < arum. The jonquil is another form of narcussus which an English cottager of a previous generation would never have dreamed of calling a daffodil, Pocticus recurous, which was the most plentiful form, he called pheasant-eye; he never would have dreamed of calling it daffodil. After all, in the matter of English plan! names, the cottager is not an authority Jo be despised, and ■ I should think he would be as little likely to speak of a jonquil or a phea-sant-eye as lie would be to call a China aster a Michaelmas daisy. It has occurred to me to consult Webster's dictionary on the subject, and this is what I find: 'Daffodil, a plant of the genus narcissus. It has a bulbous root and beautiful flowers, usually of a yellow hue.' Chambers' says: 'Narcissus, a genus of plants of the natural order Amaryllideae, having a perianth of six equal segments and a bell-shaped corona of various magnitude.' The common daffodil is the only true native of Britain. Some of them are known by the name daffodil and some .-jonquil. The name narcissus is popularly restricted to those that have fiat and not rushlike leaves, and a short not bell-shaped corona."