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Narcissus /n?:r's?s?s/ is a genus of predominantly spring perennial plant life in the Amaryllidaceae (amaryllis) family. Various common labels 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 bouquets are usually white or yellow (orange or green in garden kinds), with either even or contrasting coloured tepals and corona.

Narcissus were popular in historical civilisation, both and botanically medicinally, but formally described by Linnaeus in his Varieties Plantarum (1753). The genus is normally thought to have about ten areas with around 50 species. The amount of kinds has assorted, depending how they are classified, due to similarity between varieties 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 real name Narcissus is unknown, but it is often linked to a Greek word for intoxicated (narcotic) and the myth of the young ones of this name who fell in love with his own representation. The English word 'daffodil' appears to be produced from "asphodel", with which it was commonly compared.

The kinds are indigenous to meadows and woods in southern European countries and North Africa with a centre of variety in the European Mediterranean, the Iberian peninsula particularly. Both wild and cultivated 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 insect-pollinated also. Known pests, disorders and diseases include viruses, fungi, the larvae of flies, nematodes and mites. 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 ever more popular in Europe following the 16th century and by the past due 19th hundred years were an important commercial crop centred primarily on holland. Narcissi are popular as chop blossoms as ornamental vegetation in private and general population gardens today. The long history of breeding has led to thousands of different cultivars. For horticultural purposes, narcissi are categorised into divisions, covering an array of colours and shapes. Like other members with their family, narcissi produce 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 used in traditional healing and has led to the production of galantamine for the treating Alzheimer's dementia. Long celebrated in skill and literature, narcissi are associated with a number of themes in several cultures, ranging from death to fortune, and as icons of springtime. The daffodil is the nationwide blossom of Wales and the mark of malignancy 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 for an underground storage light bulb. They regrow in the next yr from brown-skinned ovoid lights with pronounced necks, and reach heights of 5-80 cm depending on species. Dwarf kinds such as N. asturiensis have a maximum elevation of 5-8 cm, while Narcissus tazetta may grow as large as 80 cm.

The crops are scapose, having a single central leafless hollow blossom stem (scape). Several blue-green or green, thin, strap-shaped leaves happen from the bulb. The herb stem bears a solitary flower, but occasionally a cluster of flowers (umbel). The bouquets, that are conspicuous and white or yellowish usually, sometimes both or almost never inexperienced, consist of a perianth of three parts. Closest to the stem (proximal) is a floral pipe above the ovary, then an outer ring composed of six tepals (undifferentiated sepals and petals), and a central disk to conical shaped corona. The blooms may hang down (pendent), or be erect. You will discover six pollen bearing stamens encompassing a central style. The ovary is poor (below the floral parts) consisting of three chambers (trilocular). The fruits includes a dried out capsule that splits (dehisces) releasing numerous black seeds.

The bulb lies dormant following the leaves and bloom stem die back and has contractile origins that take it down further in to the soil. The blossom leaves and stem form in the bulb, to emerge the following season. Most kinds are dormant from summer to late winter, flowering in the spring, though a few kinds are fall flowering.

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