17. Narcissus L. (narcissus, daffodil)

Plants perennial, with bulbs. Aerial stems unbranched below the inflorescence, erect, glabrous, with several bladeless sheaths in addition to the foliage leaves. Foliage leaves several, basal, 20–50 cm long, linear, flat, glabrous, often glaucous. Inflorescences at the tips of the aerial stems, umbels of 2–4 flowers, or reduced to a single flower, subtended by a papery, spathelike bract. Flowers nodding or horizontally spreading, with stalks 10–45 mm long, not replaced by bulblets. Perianth fused into a narrow, cylindrical or funnelform tube in the lower half, the lobes oblanceolate to obovate or broadly elliptic, spreading. Tubular to saucer-shaped corona of petaloid tissue present inside the perianth lobes at the top of the perianth tube. Stamens 6, situated inside the corona and fused to the perianth tube. Style 1, the stigma shallowly to deeply 3-lobed. Ovary inferior, with 3 locules, each with numerous ovules. Fruits ellipsoid capsules, usually not produced in North American materials. About 30–60 species, Europe, Asia, Africa.

The genus Narcissus, which includes the ornamental daffodils, jonquils, and their relatives, has a long history of cultivation, including hybridizations and the breeding of cultivars. This has made estimates of the number of wild species difficult. In southern Europe it is not possible to assess with certainty whether some of the taxa are native or naturalized, because the genus has been cultivated there for so long that possible escapes have become integrated into the local vegetation. Numerous taxa are cultivated in Missouri and elsewhere in North America, and it is expected that additional plants will be found growing outside of cultivation that cannot be accounted for in the treatment below. Determinations of some of these cultivars and hybrids may prove difficult. The spread of these plants is mostly accomplished by human-mediated dispersal of bulbs and their offsets.