Greek Mythology: Echo and Narcissus

Narcissus /n?:r's?s?s/ is a genus of predominantly spring perennial plant life in the Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis) family. Various common titles including daffodil,[notes 1] daffadowndilly,[3] narcissus, and jonquil are being 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 generally white or yellowish (orange or red in garden types), with either uniform or contrasting coloured tepals and corona.

Narcissus were well known in early civilisation, both and botanically medicinally, but formally defined by Linnaeus in his Kinds Plantarum (1753). The genus is normally considered to have about ten portions with around 50 species. The true range of species has assorted, depending on how they are categorised, scheduled to similarity between species 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 source of the real name Narcissus is anonymous, but it is associated with a Greek word for intoxicated (narcotic) and the myth of the children of that name who fell deeply in love with his own reflection. The English phrase 'daffodil' appears to be produced from "asphodel", with which it was commonly compared.

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

Historical accounts suggest narcissi have been cultivated from the initial times, but became ever more popular in Europe after the 16th century and by the past due 19th hundred years were an important commercial crop centred mostly on holland. Today narcissi are popular as slice flowers so when ornamental plant life in private and general population gardens. The long history of breeding has led to a large number of different cultivars. For horticultural purposes, narcissi are classified into divisions, covering a wide range of shapes and colours. Like other members with their family, narcissi create a true number of different alkaloids, which provide some protection for the plant, but may be poisonous if ingested accidentally. This property has been exploited for medicinal utilization in traditional healing and has resulted in the production of galantamine for the treating Alzheimer's dementia. Long celebrated in artwork and literature, narcissi are associated with a true number of themes in several cultures, ranging from fatality to fortune, and as icons of spring. The daffodil is the countrywide rose of Wales and the image of cancer charities in many countries. The looks of the wild flowers in spring is associated with festivals in many places.

Narcissus is a genus of perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes, dying back after flowering to a underground storage light. They regrow in the following season from brown-skinned ovoid light bulbs with pronounced necks, and reach levels 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 might increase as extra tall as 80 cm.

The crops are scapose, having an individual central leafless hollow bloom stem (scape). Several green or blue-green, small, strap-shaped leaves come up from the light bulb. The seed stem usually bears a solitary flower, but occasionally a cluster of bouquets (umbel). The blooms, which are usually conspicuous and white or yellow, sometimes both or almost never green, contain a perianth of three parts. Closest to the stem (proximal) is a floral pipe above the ovary, then an exterior ring composed of six tepals (undifferentiated sepals and petals), and a central disc to conical designed corona. The bouquets may hang up down (pendent), or be erect. You can find six pollen bearing stamens encompassing a central style. The ovary is inferior (below the floral parts) comprising three chambers (trilocular). The fruits consists of a dried capsule that splits (dehisces) launching numerous black seeds.

The bulb is placed dormant following the leaves and flower stem die again and has contractile origins that pull it down further into the soil. The bloom leaves and stem form in the light bulb, to emerge the following season. Most types are dormant from summertime to later winter, flowering in the planting season, though a few types are autumn flowering.

Narcissus Pictures