Echo and Narcissus Summary

Narcissus /n?:r's?s?s/ is a genus of mostly spring perennial crops in the Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis) family. Various common names 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 by way of a cup- or trumpet-shaped corona. The flowers are generally white or yellow (orange or green in garden types), with either uniform or contrasting coloured tepals and corona.

Narcissus were well known in traditional civilisation, both and botanically medicinally, but formally identified by Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum (1753). The genus is generally considered to have about ten portions with about 50 species. The amount of types has mixed, depending on how they are classified, due to similarity between hybridization and kinds. The genus arose some time in the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene epochs, in the Iberian peninsula and adjacent regions of southwest Europe. The precise source of the name Narcissus is undiscovered, but it is associated with a Greek phrase for intoxicated (narcotic) and the misconception of the youth of that name who fell deeply in love with his own representation. The English word 'daffodil' is apparently produced from "asphodel", with which it was commonly compared.

The kinds are local to meadows and woods in southern Europe and North Africa with a centre of variety in the European Mediterranean, the Iberian peninsula particularly. Both cultivated and wild plants have naturalised widely, and were unveiled in to the Far East to the tenth hundred years prior. Narcissi tend to be long-lived bulbs, which propagate by division, but are also insect-pollinated. Known pests, disorders and diseases include viruses, fungi, the larvae of flies, mites and nematodes. 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 ever more popular in Europe after the 16th century and by the later 19th hundred years were an important commercial crop centred generally on the Netherlands. Narcissi are popular as lower blossoms so that ornamental plant life in private and general population gardens today. The long history of breeding has resulted in a large number of different cultivars. For horticultural purposes, narcissi are categorised into divisions, covering a wide range of shapes and colours. Like other members of the family, narcissi produce a 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 utilization in traditional healing and has led to the production of galantamine for the treatment of Alzheimer's dementia. Long celebrated in art and books, narcissi are associated with a number of themes in different cultures, ranging from fatality to fortune, and as icons of spring. The daffodil is the nationwide rose of Wales and the icon of malignancy charities in many countries. The looks of the outdoors flowers in springtime is associated with festivals in many places.

Narcissus is a genus of perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes, dying again after flowering to a underground storage light. They regrow in the following season from brown-skinned ovoid light bulbs with pronounced necks, and reach heights of 5-80 cm with regards to the species. Dwarf varieties such as N. asturiensis have a maximum level of 5-8 cm, while Narcissus tazetta might increase as high as 80 cm.

The vegetation are scapose, having an individual central leafless hollow bloom stem (scape). Several green or blue-green, slim, strap-shaped leaves happen from the light. The herb stem bears a solitary rose, but once in a while a cluster of plants (umbel). The flowers, which can be conspicuous and white or yellowish usually, both or almost never inexperienced sometimes, consist of a perianth of three parts. Closest to the stem (proximal) is a floral pipe above the ovary, then an outer ring composed of six tepals (undifferentiated sepals and petals), and a central disc to conical designed corona. The plants may hang up down (pendent), or be erect. A couple of six pollen bearing stamens surrounding a central style. The ovary is poor (below the floral parts) consisting of three chambers (trilocular). The berry includes a dried out capsule that splits (dehisces) liberating numerous black seeds.

The bulb lays dormant following the leaves and flower stem die back and has contractile origins that pull it down further into the soil. The blossom leaves and stem form in the light bulb, to emerge the following season. Most varieties are dormant from summer months to late winter, flowering in the planting season, though a few varieties are fall flowering.

Narcissus Pictures

File:Narcissus TêteàTête closeup.jpg Wikipedia, the free

File:XN Narcissus pseudonarcissus.jpg Wikimedia Commons

File:A Perfect Pair Daffodills Narcissus 8.jpg Wikimedia Commons

File:Narcissus tazetta Canaliculatus03.jpg Wikipedia, the free