Narcissus pseudonarcissus flower – side.jpg

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

Narcissus were well known in early civilisation, both medicinally and botanically, but formally identified by Linnaeus in his Types Plantarum (1753). The genus is normally considered to have about ten parts with roughly 50 species. The number of varieties has varied, depending how they are categorised, credited to similarity between types and hybridization. The genus arose time in the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene epochs, in the Iberian peninsula and adjacent regions of southwest Europe. The exact source of the name Narcissus is unfamiliar, but it is often associated with a Greek expression for intoxicated (narcotic) and the myth of the youth of that name who fell in love with his own representation. The English word 'daffodil' is apparently derived from "asphodel", with which it was compared commonly.

The varieties are native to meadows and woods in southern European countries and North Africa with a middle of diversity in the European Mediterranean, particularly the Iberian peninsula. Both cultivated and wild plants have naturalised widely, and were introduced into 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 grown to be extinct, while some are threatened by increasing tourism and urbanisation.

Historical accounts suggest narcissi have been cultivated from the earliest times, but became increasingly popular in Europe following the 16th century and by the late 19th century were an important commercial crop centred mostly on the Netherlands. Today narcissi are popular as slice flowers and since ornamental vegetation in private and general population gardens. The long history of breeding has resulted in thousands of different cultivars. For horticultural purposes, narcissi are categorised into divisions, covering a wide range of colours and shapes. 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 accidentally ingested. This property has been exploited for medicinal used in traditional healing and has resulted in the production of galantamine for the treating Alzheimer's dementia. Long celebrated in art work and books, narcissi are associated with a number of themes in different cultures, ranging from fatality to good fortune, and as icons of spring. The daffodil is the countrywide bloom of Wales and the symbol of cancers charities in many countries. The looks 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 again after flowering to an underground storage bulb. They regrow in the next calendar year from brown-skinned ovoid light bulbs with pronounced necks, and reach heights of 5-80 cm with regards to the species. Dwarf kinds such as N. asturiensis have a maximum height of 5-8 cm, while Narcissus tazetta may grow as large as 80 cm.

The vegetation are scapose, having an individual central leafless hollow flower stem (scape). Several green or blue-green, slim, strap-shaped leaves come up from the bulb. The place stem bears a solitary bloom, but once in a while a cluster of blossoms (umbel). The bouquets, which are usually conspicuous and white or yellowish, both or rarely renewable sometimes, contain a perianth of three parts. Closest to the stem (proximal) is a floral tube above the ovary, then an external ring composed of six tepals (undifferentiated sepals and petals), and a central disc to conical molded corona. The blooms 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 berries contains a dried out capsule that splits (dehisces) releasing numerous black seed products.

The bulb lies dormant after the leaves and bloom stem die again and has contractile roots that move it down further into the soil. The flower leaves and stem form in the light, to emerge the following season. Most types are dormant from summer to late winter, flowering in the springtime, though a few varieties are autumn flowering.

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