Winter Narcissus - to early 2012

[Maggi Young]

Galicia pictures

Oh, My! These are great... look at that triandrus.... what a sweet thing. Well, supposing that was all you saw... it was worth the trip, in my opinion. 

[Michael J Campbell]

Here are both  Tenuifolius and Obesus that I have for comparison. They seem a lot different but them I know very little about them.

[Rafa]

Terrific pictures! dumyat, specially N. cyclamineus with the river behind.

Michale, to me both are the same. Try to smell them tomorrow to see if they have different scent.
N. conspicuus/N. tenuifolius and subsp. obesus are plants from Extremadura (Spain) and Portugal, and I would say all of them are the same N. obesus.

[Lesley Cox]

It's pest not being able to go out and look at this early autumn time of year but again for me, tenuifolius has upright to lax leaves while obesus always has arching over as far as prostrate leaves, the flowers upright above them. My tenuifolius may well be wrong though as the flowers are smaller and more like nivalis.

[annew]

David, nice photos of the possibly old cultivars.
Dumyat, I like the N. cyclamineus photo especially, but all are lovely. It is nice to see them wild.

[Michael J Campbell]

So is it safe to name them all Bulbocodium subsp. obesus ?

[Martin Baxendale]

Nothing special, just a nice clump of Tete a Tete seen on a walk, growing by a bench beside a path on a remote hillside with no other daffs for miles around. Must have been there for some time to have got to such a size. Was someone asking on here recently about virus-free stock of Tete a Tete? I couldn't see any signs of virus at all. Is all commercial stock sold now virused? I wonder if this was planted before the commercial stocks became virus-infected.

[annew]

It looks good doesn't it? It shows just why it was chosen for mass production. Common doesn't necessarily = not worth having.

[Martin Baxendale]

I thought it looked very good like this in a big solid clump rather than scattered around singly like you usually see in municipal grassed areas. And still very free flowering despite being congested.

[Gerry Webster]

Galicia pictures

Very nice. What is the plant in the second picture?

[Gerry Webster]

It's pest not being able to go out and look at this early autumn time of year but again for me, tenuifolius has upright to lax leaves while obesus always has arching over as far as prostrate leaves, the flowers upright above them. My tenuifolius may well be wrong though as the flowers are smaller and more like nivalis.

I suspect that most of the bulbocodiums in the trade are either wrongly named or so hybridised that the identity of  their ancestors is lost in the mists of time.

[David Nicholson]

So is it safe to name them all Bulbocodium subsp. obesus ?

Michael, others will no doubt disagree, but all mine, including the alleged obesus forms I have, are going to be labelled Narcissus bulbocodium(Full Stop)!!

[Gerry Webster]

So is it safe to name them all Bulbocodium subsp. obesus ?

Michael, others will no doubt disagree, but all mine, including the alleged obesus forms I have, are going to be labelled Narcissus bulbocodium(Full Stop)!!

That seems very sensible for trade forms David. My first thought was that it  might be safe to assume that plants obtained from the collectors or raised from JJA seed are what they are said to be. However, on second thoughts, & given  the problems with identification & nomenclature, it might be a good idea to follow your suggestion  with all the yellow hoop-petticoats.

[David Nicholson]

 

[David Nicholson]

Narcissus nanus: John Blanchard says it is not known as a wild plant.

And my folly. At re-potting time last year I found I had loads of bulbs of Narcissus 'Gypsy Queen' that I originally got from my friend Mike Quest in 2009. So, I potted up a good number and thought they might make a reasonable pot full for the bench at the South West AGS Show (Exeter Saturday 31 March). Well, you know what thought did!, here it is today with one single flower I bet Mike has a real pot full!