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NARCISSUS
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The genus Narcissus of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae, comprises about 26 species of spring- or fall-flowering herbs popularly called daffodils, narcissus, or jonquils. Native to Europe and North Africa, they all grew from a bulb that produces several long, narrow leaves and a single flower stalk. The flowers are usually white or yellow and are characterized by a narrow, tubular base (hypanthium), three petals and three petallike sepals (the perianth), and a central cuplike appendage (the corona, cup, or crown) that may be of contrasting color. The Royal Horticultural Society of Britain has grouped the wild species of cultivated varieties into 11 divisions, but for convenience they may be roughly divided into the three popular categories based on the following general characteristics: a DAFFODIL has four to six flattened, grasslike leaves, and its flower stalk bears a single flower with a long, trumpetlike corona; a narcissus is similar, but its flattened flower stalk bears four to eight flowers with short coronas; a jonquil has two to four narrow, cylindrical, rushlike leaves, and its flower stalk bears two to six relatively small flowers with short coronas. Florists tend to call any narcissus plant with a yellow corona a jonquil.
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