Identification of a Jonquilla section Narcissus

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:56:38 PDT
In past years I may have distributed bulbs of a Narcissus in the 
Jonquilla section as N. wilkommii. I grew these plants from a bulb 
purchased from Paul CHristian in the early 1990s. I have been 
suspicious about its identity for some time but just now took the 
time to compare its details with the botanical description. It 
doesn't match in all details, particularly the length of the stem and 
the relative position of the stigma and the anthers. Also, it has 
more flowers per stem than the described plant.

 From the descriptions I have, it is rather intermediate between N. 
wilkommii and N. jonquilla subsp. henriquesii. Therefore, if you're 
growing this plant, you had better just call it "Narcissus, sect. Jonquilla."

Nonetheless, it is a very nice garden narcissus with a wonderful 
fragrance, cheerful and increasing well.

I have a lot of Jonquilla narcissi under a lot of names, and sorting 
them out without a DNA lab is, I have to admit, beyond me. If it were 
not for the botanist's need to name things, we could probably 
consider most of them points on a continuum.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA





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