A daffodil ephphany (make that epiphany, thank you)

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
Tue, 17 Apr 2007 19:48:20 PDT
Before posting that message, I did a search among about a dozen early
twentieth century books with an emphasis on bulbs to try to pin down the
source of the Eucharis flowered daffodils. Nothing turned up, so I sent the
message on. 

Later in the day, I went back and tried again. This time I found it. Mrs.
Wilder is my source. She does not mention the Eucharis flowered daffodils in
her 1936 Adventures with Hardy Bulbs, although by then the distinction
between  Barrii and Leedsii daffodils must have been obsolescent. 

However, in her earlier My Garden (copyright  1916, although my copy is
dated 1920) she writes "the Eucharis-flowered or Leedsii group are softly
coloured (sic) and delicately fragrant."

My earlier message likened the Baurii and Leedsii groups to our modern
Division 3 small cup daffodils. That was an oversimplification. Actually,
the Barrii and Leedsii sorts ended up in both Division 2 and Division 3,
depending on the size of the corona. I assume that the small cupped Leedsii
sorts were Mrs. Wilder's Eucharis-flowered sorts. 

Although these distinctions no longer significant, the next time you see a
group of small cupped daffodils in flower, look at them with that
Eucharis-flowered description in mind and see if you don't see them in a new
light. 



Jim McKenney
jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where it still feels more
like March than April.

My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/
 
Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS 
Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ 
 
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