Description: Perennial herbs with bulb; bulb tunicated; roots fibrous.
Leaves annual, basal, linear, flat to terete, sheathing at base.
Inflorescence umbellate or 1-flowered, scapose; spathe scarious. Flowers actinomorphic, pedicellate; perianth tubular, 6-lobed; corona trumpet-shaped. Stamens 6, inserted on perianth tube at 2 levels; anthers versatile, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, introrse. Ovary inferior, 3-locular; ovules many per loculus; placentation axile; style ± filiform; stigma capitate or lobed.
Fruit a capsule; seeds numerous, angled, black.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 60 species, Europe, Mediterranean region, western Asia. Australia: 2 species (naturalized), N.S.W., Tas., S.A., W.A.
Many species, hybrids and cultigens are widely grown in cooler districts; these include daffodils (N. pseudonarcissus) and jonquils (N. tazetta). Some persist around old homesteads but are not considered to be fully naturalized in that situation. The Royal Horticultural Society classifies cultivated plants into 12 divisions - see their website http://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/Plant-science/Plant-registration-forms/daffhortclass
Text by G. J. Harden & N. Frischknecht (1993); edited KL Wilson (Aug 2013)
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Inflorescence of 1 flower; flowers with prominent tubular corona about as long as the perianth lobes | Narcissus pseudonarcissus |
| Inflorescence umbellate; flowers with short cup-shaped corona, much shorter than the perianth lobes | Narcissus tazetta |
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