Poet's Narcissus

Appearance

The flower is extremely fragrant, with a ring of tepals in pure white and a short corona of light yellow with a distinct reddish edge. It grows to 20 to 40 cm tall.

Distribution

"Narcissus poeticus" is native to central and southern Europe from Spain, France through Switzerland, Austria to Croatia, Albania,Greece and Ukraine. It is naturalised in Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, Turkey, New Zealand, British Columbia, Washington state, Oregon, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, and much of the eastern United States, from Louisiana and Georgia north to Maine and Wisconsin.

Defense

While all narcissi are poisonous when eaten, poet's daffodil is more dangerous than others, acting as a strong emetic and irritant. The scent can be powerful enough to cause headache and vomiting if a large quantity is kept in a closed room.

Evolution

The earliest mention of poet's daffodil is likely in the "Historia Plantarum", the main botanical writing of Theophrastus, who wrote about a spring-blooming narcissus that the Loeb Classical Library editors identify as "Narcissus poeticus". According to Theophrastus, the narcissus, also called leirion, has a leafless stem, with the flower at the top. The plant blooms very late, after the setting of Arcturus about the equinox. The poet Virgil, in his fifth "Eclogue", also wrote about a narcissus whose description corresponds with that of "Narcissus poeticus". In one version of the myth about the Greek hero Narcissus, he was punished by the Goddess of vengeance, Nemesis, who turned him into a Narcissus flower that historians associate with "Narcissus poeticus". The fragrant "Narcissus poeticus" has also been recognised as the flower that Persephone and her companions were gathering when Hades abducted her into the Underworld, according to Hellmut Baumann in "The Greek Plant World in Myth, Art, and Literature". This myth accounts for the custom, which has lasted into modern times, of decorating graves with these flowers. Linnaeus, who gave the flower its name, quite possibly did so because he believed it was the one that inspired the tale of Narcissus, handed down by poets since ancient times.

Uses

In medicine, it was described by Dioscorides in his "Materia Medica" as "Being laid on with Loliacean meal, & honey it draws out splinters". James Sutherland also mentioned it in his "Hortus Medicus Edinburgensis". In Korea, it is used to treat conjunctivitus, urethritis and amenorrhoea.