Daffodils
Daffodil is the common English name of the botanical name Narcissus,
a showy genus of large-flowered early bulbs. Most daffodils
look yellow, but yellow-and-white, yellow-and-orange, white-and-orange,
pink, and lime-green cultivars also exist.
Daffodils grow perennially from bulbs. In temperate climates
they flower among the earliest blooms in spring: to this
extent daffodils both represent and herald spring. They often
grow in large clusters, covering lawns and even entire hillsides
with yellow.
All daffodils have a central trumpet-shaped corona surrounded
by a ring of petals. The traditional daffodil has a golden
yellow color all over, but the corona may often feature a
contrasting color. Breeders have developed some daffodils
with a double or triple row of petals, making them resemble
a small golden ball. Other cultivars have frilled petals,
or an elongated or compressed central corona. Daffodils are
poisonous and can be fatal if eaten.
All daffodils belong to the genus Narcissus. Daffodil is the
common English name for them all, and Narcissus is the Latin,
botanical name for them all. Some people refer to daffodils
as "jonquils", from the Spanish name for the flower,
although properly this name belongs only to hybrids of Narcissus
jonquilla.
The daffodil serves as the national flower of Wales. One species,
Narcissus obvallaris, grows only in a small area around Tenby.
In Wales it is traditional to wear a daffodil on Saint
David's Day (1 March).
In the language of flowers, daffodils signify chivalry and/or
respect. The name of the flower is derived from an earlier
"affodell", a variant of asphodel. The reason for
the introduction of the initial "d" is not known,
though from at least the sixteenth century "Daffadown
Dilly" or "daffadowndilly" has appeared as a
playful synonym of the name.
William Wordsworth's short poem "I
wandered lonely as a cloud" has often become linked in
the popular mind with the daffodils which form its main image.
'The Daffodils' more.. |