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The Incomparable Daffodil
Narcissus incomparabilis.
DAFFODILS are in the same good luck as lilies,if it be good luck for a flower to be in fashion. They are grown for the flower-markets on a scale that surprises those who are unaccustomed to the statistics of commercial horticulture, and they are also grown for the gardens more extensively than any other class of bulbs. There are good reasons for this, and we are bound to state them as fully as our space will allow.
The two prominent reasons for their popularity are their beauty and their early flowering. Those who know only the common double daffodil of the cottage garden can form no proper conception of the variety of character and the purity and splendour of the more distinctive species and varieties. The gigantic Telamonius, the chaste and queenly Empress, the dashing Emperor, and the great golden Maximus may be named as sumptuous forms of "Lent lilies," or trumpet daffodils, a group of flowers having direct relation to the species known to botanists as Narcissus pseudo-narcissus. As the varieties of this group go out of bloom the varieties of Incomparabilis present their charming flowers. These always appear in a nodding attitude, and they are distinguished from the group of true Lent lilies by the shorter crown, which, as Parkinson truly describes it, is fashioned like the chalice in which is held the wine at the Lord's table. Here again we have abundant variety in respect of colour, and several double flowering kinds that are exquisitely beautiful. These incomparable daffodils, or "Nompareilles," as the old writers called them, are scarcely out of bloom ere the first flowers appear on the daffodil of the poets, the Narcissus poeticus, which we are to suppose sprang from the watery grave of the beautiful and vain boy whose fate is told in the story of Ovid. The trumpet daffodils may be described as glorious, the incomparables as beautiful, and the poets as delicate. Here in place of a trumpet or a cup we have a cymbal or ring in the centre of the flower. All the varieties of this group are pure white, and the central ring is red, or orange, or rich yellow. Lastly, to wind up the daffodil season, we have the polyanthus group, or Narcissus tazetta, which are produced in clusters, or umbels, each flower having in the centre a small neat cup, which is often of a different colour to the perianth, or leaves that form the circumference of the flower. These are much valued for pot-culture and forcing.
The Corbularia group must have a paragraph to itself. This group comprehends the species commonly described as Narcissus corbularia (or bulbocodium), and the several varieties thereof, including one with white flowers, and several that vary in their shades of yellow and have very distinctive outlines. The flowers of these have the tube, or trumpet, so much developed, and the outer segments so much contracted, that "corbularia," which means "little basket," is a very appropriate collective name for them. They are extremely beautiful, and are peculiarly adapted for pot-culture, for the adornment of the table and the conservatory with their charming flowers, which in some cases are of the richest gold-yellow, in others lemon-yellow and creamy white. When grown in a common border they are liable to destruction by spring frosts, owing to their habit of growing early in the year; but when grown in pots in sandy soil, they give no trouble, flower delightfully, and multiply in a most satisfactory manner.
These five prominent groups represent only the most popular and generally useful members of the great family of daffodils. There are twenty or more species described by the botanists, and the collectors who give special attention to them know of hundreds of varieties. It is a fact of immense interest that in the catalogue of bulbs published by Messrs. Barr and Sugden for the year 1878, there are exactly 150 varieties of daffodils described, and offered at prices ranging from five shillings to a penny per bulb. In the "Paradisus" of John Parkinson, published in 1656, there are no fewer than ninety-four plants described as of the narciss family; some of these might with botanical propriety be removed into other classes; nevertheless the enumeration proves that daffodils were diligently collected and seriously studied in the early days of gardening, for very many of Parkinson's varieties had come down to him as old garden favourities.
The great trumpet daffodils are such as Shakespeare had in mind when he spoke of "Daffodils that come before the swallow dares, And take the winds of March with beauty."
The earliness and the hardiness of these brave flowers render them beyond all ordinary measure valuable. It is but rarely the frost harms them, even when they flower in the early days of March, and, indeed, the only enemy to be feared is strong sunshine, which of course does not often occur in the season of daffodils. Add to their hardiness that they are not at all particular as to soil, and that when once planted they may be left undisturbed for years, and what a heap of arguments have we in favour of their cultivation, and in explanation of their ever-increasing popularity! We will crown the great heap with a fact of some importance. The daffodils thrive in damp places that are partially shaded by trees; hence they are available to convert into a Tom Tiddler's ground many a spot whereon but few choice flowers would find a happy home.