Thursday 7 April 2016

Narcissus Part 2

A few more of the common hybrids illustrated below, again from Oulton churchyard (VC63).

The Head-to-head Daffodil Narcissus x cyclazetta 'Tete-a-Tete' (Narcissus tazetta x cyclamineus) is arguably the world's most popular daffodil, arising in the 1940's and with c. 70 million tons of bulbs produced annually. What's not to like, a blast of sunshine in the bleakest months, sturdy and reliable. The only difficulty for the botanist is that some books imply that it reliably has two flower heads per stem. Unfortunately 'Tete-a-Tete' has not read the books, it can produce two but it rarely bothers, particularly after its first year of planting.

Narcissus x cyclazetta 'Tete-a-Tete'

Next up is Reflexed Daffodil (Narcissus x monochromus), but I have no idea if the very common form photographed is the cultivar 'Jetfire' or 'Itzim', as both are very similar, or even if it should strictly be included under this hybrid. Strictly the corona should be yellow (monochromus being a big clue here) to reflect the N. pseudonarcissus bloodline, while the reflexed (but not always from day one of opening) perianth segments come from Narcissus cyclamineus. I include it here for convenience, and it gives a fair indication of what to expect (without the orange, its otherwise very similar to 'February Gold' the classic cultivar of this hybrid). Just be clear on the corona colour if recording this hybrid, as that way if the correct name get resolved then the records can be easily reassigned later. It definitely has N. cyclamineus as one parent, place your bets for the other(s).

Narcissus 'Jetfire' / 'Itzim'

The white and yellow version of the above is known as Bicoloured Daffodil (Narcissus x dichromus) and is reputedly Narcissus moschatus x cyclamineus. The cultivar here is 'Jenny', who can confuse as the corona starts pale yellow (which you need to know to key it out) and then ends up as cream.

Narcissus x dichromus 'Jenny'





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