Narcissus November 2015

[johnralphcarpenter]

Tomorrow, I sniff!

[Anthony Darby]

I hope Rafa won't mind me sharing this  comment on papyraceus/panizzianus:

Subsp. pannizianus is quite harmonic plant in proportions between corona and tepals, very good scented, and the most important maybe is the one that blooms later in late winter.

Subsp. papyraceus is very chaotic twhisted tepals, irregular corona… and scent very bad (maybe the worst narcissus) the vernacular name here is “meados de burra” o  “meados de cabra” which means donkey or goat pee. Also it blooms before N. pannizianus.

Must try the sniff test as I have clumps of both (?) in the garden, but six months or so away from flowering.

[johnralphcarpenter]

Tomorrow, I sniff!

Oh dear, scent is so subjective, isn't it?  My wife thinks they smell pleasant and "narcissus-like" but I can detect a hint of the donkey there. More pictures attached, perhaps Rafa can identify which subspecies?

[Rafa]

I am sure it is not N. pachybolbus. Like N. dubius and N. tortifolius they have eliptic escape section and paperwhites have (I don't know the word in english) "ancipitada" section.

I have some ideas about these plants, but I am not sure at all... We have plants that scent marvellous, and another plants  that has the worst scent, plants that blooms in November and plants that blooms in Feberuary and a range between them.

In recent observations I notice that plants that have a terrible scent, starts to have a good scent after they have been pollinated.

So maybe there are just one species N. papyraceus, with a range of forms and a long phenology period depending where it grows, and a strategy for being pollinated  that involves two differnt scents depending on whether the ovary is closed or not. I mean it use a bad scent (to our nose ) to attract certain insects and once it has been pollinated it use another scent to repel the same insects.

I think that further field studies are needed to understand paperwhites.

[johnralphcarpenter]

Very interesting, and not straightforward. No surprise there!

[YT]

At last, hoop-petticoat daffodil season has just come here today nearly 4 weeks earlier than usual It’s very strange season here with very warm and humid weather so narcissus grow higher.

Left: Narcissus ‘Shirayukihime’ (白雪姫)
I bought this un-registered hybrid bulbs from a nursery in Japan but there are some variations with different flowering time, size, shapes and plant height  This is the earliest flowering plants among them.

Right: Narcissus romieuxii subsp. albidus var. zaianicus
One of the self pollinated seedlings from a plant labelled as “N. zaianicus var. albus MS. 168 from Monocot Nursery”. Unfortunately, the parent had already been affected by virus when I got it and had to throw them away after collected seeds.

[annew]

Your narcissus look more like ours this year, Tatsuo - not so compact. Still beautiful!

[YT]

Your narcissus look more like ours this year, Tatsuo - not so compact. Still beautiful!

Thanks, Anne. Yes, indeed.