Narcissus tazetta Bunchflower daffodil, Paperwhite daffodil

Narcissus /n?:r's?s?s/ is a genus of predominantly spring perennial vegetation in the Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis) family. Various common titles 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 a cup- or trumpet-shaped corona. The flowers are usually white or yellow (orange or green in garden types), with either standard or contrasting coloured tepals and corona.

Narcissus were well known in traditional civilisation, both medicinally and botanically, but formally detailed by Linnaeus in his Types Plantarum (1753). The genus is generally considered to have about ten areas with roughly 50 species. The true amount of types has mixed, depending on how they are labeled, scheduled to similarity between kinds and hybridization. The genus arose some right amount of time in the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene epochs, in the Iberian peninsula and adjacent areas of southwest Europe. The exact origins of the name Narcissus is unidentified, but it is associated with a Greek word for intoxicated (narcotic) and the myth of the junior of that name who fell in love with his own representation. The English word 'daffodil' is apparently derived from "asphodel", with which it was likened commonly.

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

Historical accounts suggest narcissi have been cultivated from the initial times, but became ever more popular in Europe following the 16th hundred years and by the late 19th hundred years were an important commercial crop centred mainly on the Netherlands. Today narcissi are popular as lower blossoms so that as ornamental plant life in private and general population gardens. The long history of breeding has resulted in a large number of different cultivars. For horticultural purposes, narcissi are labeled into divisions, covering a variety of shapes and colours. Like other members of their family, narcissi create 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 use within traditional healing and has led to the production of galantamine for the treating Alzheimer's dementia. Long celebrated in art work and literature, narcissi are associated with a true number of themes in various cultures, ranging from fatality to fortune, and as icons of spring. The daffodil is the countrywide bloom of Wales and the symbol of cancer charities in many countries. The looks of the outdoors flowers in planting season is associated with celebrations in many places.

Narcissus is a genus of perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes, dying back again after flowering for an underground storage bulb. They regrow in the following year from brown-skinned ovoid light bulbs with pronounced necks, and reach heights of 5-80 cm with regards to the species. Dwarf types such as N. asturiensis have a maximum height of 5-8 cm, while Narcissus tazetta might expand as large as 80 cm.

The plants are scapose, having a single central leafless hollow blossom stem (scape). Several blue-green or green, small, strap-shaped leaves come up from the bulb. The plant stem usually bears a solitary bloom, but sometimes a cluster of blossoms (umbel). The bouquets, that are conspicuous and white or yellowish usually, sometimes both or hardly ever green, contain a perianth of three parts. Closest to the stem (proximal) is a floral tube above the ovary, then an outer ring made up of six tepals (undifferentiated sepals and petals), and a central disc to conical shaped corona. The flowers may hang up down (pendent), or be erect. There are six pollen bearing stamens encircling a central style. The ovary is poor (below the floral parts) consisting of three chambers (trilocular). The fruit contains a dried out capsule that splits (dehisces) releasing numerous black seeds.

The bulb lays dormant after the leaves and rose stem die back again and has contractile root base that move it down further into the soil. The bloom stem and leaves form in the light bulb, to emerge the next season. Most species are dormant from summer time to late winter, flowering in the spring and coil, though a few types are fall flowering.

Narcissus Pictures

Narcissus tazetta Flickr Photo Sharing!

Narcissus tazetta ‘Ziva’

File:Starr 0512248582 Narcissus tazetta.jpg Wikimedia Commons

Narcissus, Narcissus papyraceus 39;Ziva39; Narcissus tazetta var