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Narcissus /n?:r's?s?s/ is a genus of mainly spring perennial plant life in the Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis) family. Various common brands including daffodil,[notes 1] daffadowndilly,[3] narcissus, and jonquil are used to describe all or some members of the genus. Narcissus has conspicuous flowers with six petal-like tepals surmounted with a cup- or trumpet-shaped corona. The flowers are usually white or yellowish (orange or pink in garden kinds), with either even or contrasting colored tepals and corona.

Narcissus were well known in ancient civilisation, both medicinally and botanically, but formally detailed by Linnaeus in his Kinds Plantarum (1753). The genus is normally thought to have about ten areas with approximately 50 species. The number of kinds has assorted, depending about how they are categorized, scheduled to similarity between kinds and hybridization. The genus arose a while in the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene epochs, in the Iberian peninsula and adjacent areas of southwest Europe. The precise origin of the true name Narcissus is unfamiliar, but it is linked to a Greek word for intoxicated (narcotic) and the misconception of the youth of that name who fell in love with his own reflection. The English term 'daffodil' is apparently produced from "asphodel", with which it was commonly compared.

The types are native to meadows and woods in southern Europe and North Africa with a centre of variety in the Traditional western Mediterranean, particularly the Iberian peninsula. Both cultivated and wild plants have naturalised widely, and were introduced into the Far East prior to the tenth century. Narcissi tend to be long-lived bulbs, which propagate by division, but are insect-pollinated also. Known pests, disorders and diseases include viruses, fungi, the larvae of flies, nematodes and mites. Some Narcissus species have become extinct, while others are threatened by increasing tourism and urbanisation.

Historical accounts suggest narcissi have been cultivated from the earliest times, but became increasingly popular in Europe after the 16th hundred years and by the overdue 19th century were an important commercial crop centred primarily on holland. Today narcissi are popular as lower blooms as ornamental plants in private and general public gardens. The long history of breeding has led to a large number of different cultivars. For horticultural purposes, narcissi are grouped into divisions, covering an array of shapes and colours. Like other members of the family, narcissi create a true number of different alkaloids, which provide some protection for the plant, but may be poisonous if ingested inadvertently. This property has been exploited for medicinal use in traditional healing and has resulted in the production of galantamine for the treating Alzheimer's dementia. Long celebrated in artwork and books, narcissi are associated with a number of themes in several cultures, ranging from fatality to fortune, and as symbols of planting season. The daffodil is the countrywide bloom of Wales and the mark of tumors charities in many countries. The looks of the wild flowers in planting season is associated with festivals in many places.

Narcissus is a genus of perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes, dying back again after flowering to the underground storage light. They regrow in the following 12 months from brown-skinned ovoid lights with pronounced necks, and reach heights of 5-80 cm with respect to the species. Dwarf kinds such as N. asturiensis have a maximum height of 5-8 cm, while Narcissus tazetta may expand as extra tall as 80 cm.

The crops are scapose, having a single central leafless hollow rose stem (scape). Several blue-green or green, narrow, strap-shaped leaves occur from the bulb. The vegetable stem usually bears a solitary rose, but sometimes a cluster of bouquets (umbel). The flowers, which are usually conspicuous and white or yellow, both or almost never green sometimes, contain a perianth of three parts. Closest to the stem (proximal) is a floral pipe above the ovary, then an outer ring made up of six tepals (undifferentiated sepals and petals), and a central disk to conical shaped corona. The bouquets may hang up down (pendent), or be erect. A couple of six pollen bearing stamens surrounding a central style. The ovary is inferior (below the floral parts) consisting of three chambers (trilocular). The fruit consists of a dried capsule that splits (dehisces) releasing numerous black seed products.

The bulb is dormant after the leaves and blossom stem die back and has contractile roots that take it down further into the soil. The blossom stem and leaves form in the bulb, to emerge the next season. Most species are dormant from summer to past due winter, flowering in the spring, though a few types are autumn flowering.

Narcissus Pictures

Narcissus pseudonarcissus ssp. obvallaris

Narcissus pseudonarcissus var. 39;Gerardes Double English Daffodil39; sy

Narcissus pseudonarcissus L. daffodil

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