Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Collection 610 by Laurell K. Hamilton

Narcissus /n?:r's?s?s/ is a genus of predominantly spring perennial plants in the Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis) family. Various common names 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 way of a cup- or trumpet-shaped corona. The bouquets are usually white or yellowish (orange or pink in garden kinds), with either standard or contrasting colored corona and tepals.

Narcissus were popular in old civilisation, both medicinally and botanically, but formally referred to by Linnaeus in his Kinds Plantarum (1753). The genus is generally thought to have about ten parts with around 50 species. The true amount of species has varied, depending how they are categorized, due to similarity between species and hybridization. The genus arose some right amount of time in the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene epochs, in the Iberian peninsula and adjacent regions of southwest Europe. The exact origins of the true name Narcissus is unidentified, but it is often associated with a Greek expression for intoxicated (narcotic) and the misconception of the children of that name who fell in love with his own reflection. The English word 'daffodil' appears to be derived from "asphodel", with which it was commonly compared.

The species are local to meadows and woods in southern European countries and North Africa with a centre of diversity in the American Mediterranean, the Iberian peninsula particularly. Both cultivated and wild plants have naturalised widely, and were introduced in to the Far East prior to 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, nematodes and mites. 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 earliest times, but became increasingly 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 slash bouquets as ornamental plants 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 grouped into divisions, covering a wide range 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 ingested inadvertently. This property has been exploited for medicinal use in traditional healing and has led to the production of galantamine for the treating Alzheimer's dementia. Long celebrated in artwork and literature, narcissi are associated with a number of themes in several cultures, ranging from fatality to good fortune, and as symbols of spring and coil. The daffodil is the national flower of Wales and the mark of cancers charities in many countries. The appearance of the untamed 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 to a underground storage light. They regrow in the next season from brown-skinned ovoid bulbs with pronounced necks, and reach levels of 5-80 cm depending on the species. Dwarf species such as N. asturiensis have a maximum height of 5-8 cm, while Narcissus tazetta might expand as tall as 80 cm.

The plant life are scapose, having an individual central leafless hollow bloom stem (scape). Several blue-green or green, thin, strap-shaped leaves come up from the light bulb. The plant stem usually bears a solitary blossom, but occasionally a cluster of bouquets (umbel). The blossoms, that happen to be usually conspicuous and white or yellowish, both or seldom renewable sometimes, contain a perianth of three parts. Closest to the stem (proximal) is a floral tube above the ovary, then an external ring made up of six tepals (undifferentiated sepals and petals), and a central disk to conical designed corona. The blossoms may suspend down (pendent), or be erect. You will discover six pollen bearing stamens adjoining a central style. The ovary is second-rate (below the floral parts) comprising three chambers (trilocular). The fruit contains a dried up capsule that splits (dehisces) releasing numerous black seed products.

The bulb is placed dormant after the leaves and blossom stem die back and has contractile root base that draw it down further in to the soil. The blossom leaves and stem form in the bulb, to emerge the next season. Most varieties are dormant from summer time to late winter, flowering in the spring and coil, though a few varieties are autumn flowering.

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