Because no one has taken my hint and asked the "jonquil question", I've decided to go ahead and ask it/answer it myself. In several related recent postings I've mused on the public's understanding of the words daffodil and narcissus. Jonquil deserves some attention, too. I just looked at the American Daffodil Society site, and I'm happy to say that they have, in effect, stolen a bit of my thunder. Several years ago I listened as a daffodil friend responded to the question "what is a jonquil" and proceeded to answer the question in terms of the flower. I thought it was a very odd answer because, as far as I'm concerned, the answer should have nothing at all to do with the flower. The term jonquil itself is a bit of an oddity: apparently it came to botany from the French who in turn got the word from the Spanish, but it is ultimately thought to be derived from the Latin juncus for rush. Whenever people ask me about the difference between jonquils and other daffodils, I point out that the difference has nothing whatsoever to do with the flowers. The difference is in the foliage. Daffodils with rush-like leaves are all properly called jonquils. No daffodil with flat leaves is properly called a jonquil. Please, I'm not saying this to pick a fight with the ADS. Their definitions are fine for their intended purpose, and they certainly don't need me to tell them about daffodils. But in the wider world, across the many languages which use this term jonquil in one form or another, I'll bet the meaning is closer to the literal one I've suggested than to either the one prevailing among American gardeners or the somewhat narrower one used, with impeccable propriety, by the ADS. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net Montgomery County, Maryland, zone 7, where I'm on my way to check out my daffodils, narcissi, bastard daffodils and jonquils and the opposition can now load their muskets and prepare to fire the response volley. The Battles Be Joyned!