BUNCH-FLOWERED DAFFODIL

Narcissus tazetta

Onion & Garlic Family [Alliaceae]

month8mar month8march month8apr month8april month8may

status
statusZneophyte
 
flower
flower8bicolour
 
flower
flower8white
 
flower
flower8yellow
 
inner
inner8orange
 
morph
morph8actino
 
petals
petalsZ6
(3+3)
stem
stem8round
 
smell
smell8fragrant
fragrant
toxicity
toxicityZlowish
 

6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
A few underground bulbs close together. Unlike many Alliaceae family species, of which it is now thought to be a member, the bulb does not smell of onions or of garlic.


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Leaves 'flat' glaucous-green and between 5-15mm wide.


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
With between 3 to 8 (extremes 2-15) flowers emerging from near the top of a main stem.


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The six tepals/sepals are white (not orange) whilst the corona is yellow to deep yellow (not orange). The tepals are fanned out roughly in the same plane (i.e. not swept backwards).


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
There is a paper-thin flap where the flower stalks emerge, just like those in the Alliaceae family [it IS in the Alliaceae family now). Where the flower stalks first emerge is a bulge at which point the rest of the stalk bends (like an elbow). A long, narrower paler-green section of the stalk gives rise to a white un-opened flower bud.


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
There are 3 inner white petals and 3 outer concolorous white sepals in the flower. The corona is yellow to deep yellow and like a shallow cupped-bowl, between 3 to 6mm (long(?) or diameter(?) is not specified in Stace - if only he used the normal engineering abbreviation for diameter: φ - I suspect that it is the length, since the diameter is definitely more than 6mm across).


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Within the corona are 6 orange anthers, 3 slightly longer than the other three.


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The stigma has just one style but your Author cannot spot it here.


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
This specimen has about 10 flower stalks emerging from one stem, which is still within specification for Bunch-flowered Daffodil, but slightly above the normal range. [The lobed leaves below are of a differing plant].


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
The dark-green bulge just after the bend is the ovary, which is inferior (meaning before/behind the tepals).


A NON-WHITE GARDEN VARIETY

Which does not occur in the Wild
6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD
Those meeting the specification for Division 8 derivatives of Daffodils (i.e. Tazetta species) but which have yellow tepals (as here) are also grown in gardens but unlike the white-tepalled variety have not been found growing in the wild.


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD


6th April 2018, Roby, Parbold, Lancs. Photo: © RWD


Easily confused with : Pheasant's-Eye Daffodil (Narcissus poeticus) [which also has a 6 large white petals with a short cupped-bowl shaped yellow inner, but in the case of Narcissus poeticus the cupped-bowl has a red rim and only one flower per main stem]. Bunch-flowered Daffodil also hybridizes with Pheasant's-Eye Daffodil

Not to be semantically confused with : French Marigolds (Tagetes) [a genus of flowers with similar names to the specific epithet of Bunch-flowered Daffodil tazette]

Hybridizes with :

  • Pheasant's-Eye Daffodil (Narcissus poeticus) to produce Narcissus × medioluteus (Primrose-peerless)
  • Cyclamen-flowered Daffodil (Narcissus cyclamineus) to produce Narcissus × cyclazetta
  • Jonquil (Narcissus jonquilla) to produce Narcissus × intermedius

Bunch-flowered Daffodil is fragrant, with the major constituent in the essential oil being trans-Ocimene at 61% (but this seems to be for the cultivar Narcissus tazetta var. chinensis), whereas another source claims that Benzyl Acetate, Linalool and 1,8-Cineole are in the headspace of the true Narcissus tazetta ssp. tazetta.


  Narcissus tazetta  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Alliaceae  

Distribution
 family8Onion & Garlic family8Alliaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Narcissus
Narcissus
(Daffodils)

BUNCH-FLOWERED DAFFODIL

Narcissus tazetta

Onion & Garlic Family [Alliaceae]