NARCISSUS QUEEN PAGEANT 2016

Narcissus /n?:r's?s?s/ is a genus of mainly spring perennial plants in the Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis) family. Various common labels including daffodil,[notes 1] daffadowndilly,[3] narcissus, and jonquil are being used to describe all or some known 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 yellowish (orange or red in garden kinds), with either even or contrasting colored tepals and corona.

Narcissus were well known in traditional civilisation, both and botanically medicinally, but formally defined by Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum (1753). The genus is generally considered to have about ten parts with around 50 species. The amount of varieties has varied, depending how they are labeled, as a consequence to similarity between hybridization and kinds. The genus arose a while in the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene epochs, in the Iberian peninsula and adjacent areas of southwest Europe. The exact origin of the name Narcissus is mysterious, but it is often linked to a Greek expression for intoxicated (narcotic) and the misconception of the children of this name who fell in love with his own reflection. The English expression 'daffodil' appears to be derived from "asphodel", with which it was compared commonly.

The types are indigenous to meadows and woods in southern European countries and North Africa with a center of variety in the Traditional western Mediterranean, particularly the Iberian peninsula. Both cultivated and wild plants have naturalised widely, and were introduced in to the Far East before the tenth century. Narcissi have a tendency 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, mites and nematodes. Some Narcissus species have become extinct, while some are threatened by increasing urbanisation and tourism.

Historical accounts suggest narcissi have been cultivated from the earliest times, but became increasingly popular in Europe following the 16th hundred years and by the past due 19th century were an important commercial crop centred generally on holland. Today narcissi are popular as trim bouquets so that ornamental crops in private and general public gardens. The long history of breeding has led to thousands of different cultivars. For horticultural purposes, narcissi are categorised into divisions, covering a variety of shapes and colours. Like other members of these family, narcissi create a number of different alkaloids, which provide some protection for the plant, but may be poisonous if accidentally ingested. This property has been exploited for medicinal use within traditional healing and has led to the production of galantamine for the treatment of Alzheimer's dementia. Long celebrated in books and fine art, narcissi are associated with a true number of themes in different cultures, ranging from fatality to good fortune, and as icons of planting season. The daffodil is the countrywide blossom of Wales and the symbol of cancer tumor charities in many countries. The appearance of the outdoors flowers in spring and coil is associated with celebrations in many places.

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

The plants are scapose, having an individual central leafless hollow flower stem (scape). Several green or blue-green, thin, strap-shaped leaves occur from the light. The vegetable stem usually bears a solitary rose, but occasionally a cluster of bouquets (umbel). The flowers, which can be usually conspicuous and white or yellowish, both or rarely green sometimes, contain a perianth of three parts. Closest to the stem (proximal) is a floral tube above the ovary, then an exterior ring made up of six tepals (undifferentiated sepals and petals), and a central disc to conical formed corona. The flowers may hang up down (pendent), or be erect. A couple of six pollen bearing stamens encircling a central style. The ovary is substandard (below the floral parts) consisting of three chambers (trilocular). The berries contains a dry capsule that splits (dehisces) liberating numerous black seed products.

The bulb lies dormant following the leaves and bloom stem die back and has contractile root base that draw it down further in to the soil. The rose leaves and stem form in the light, to emerge the next season. Most kinds are dormant from summer to overdue winter, flowering in the spring, though a few species are autumn flowering.

Narcissus Pictures

67th ANNUAL NARCISSUS QUEEN PAGEANT 2016 CONTESTANTS

Commerce of Hawaii presented its 59th Narcissus Queen Pageant Jan. 5

66th ANNUAL NARCISSUS QUEEN PAGEANT 2015 CONTESTANTS

Ashley Fu is new Narcissus Queen Honolulu StarAdvertiser