Nature Study Lesson #150: Daffodils, Jonquils and Narcissuses

"...the sight of the daffodils floods the spirit with the sense of sunlight."

- Anna Comstock, Handbook of Nature Study

"The daffodil, jonquil and narcissus are very closely related, and quite similar. They all come from bulbs...The flowers brought to school may be studied for form, and there should be a special study of the way the flower develops its seed, and how it is propagated by bulbs."

The oldest bought a daffodil and she planted it in our front flower bed. When we took it out of the pot, we took particular note of how the roots came out of the bulbs in the soil. We cut some of the blooms to bring inside to study and sketch. By reading The Handbook of Nature Study, we learned that the flower-tube is called the corolla or crown.

"When we look down into the crown of one of these flowers, we see the long style with its three-lobed stigma pushing out beyond the anthers, which are pressed close about it at the throat of the tube; between each two anther may be seen a little deep passage, through with the tongues of the mouth or butterfly can be thrust to reach the nectar....the filaments of the stamens are grown fast to the sides of the tube for much of their length, enough remain free to press the anthers close to the style. The ovary of the pistil is a green swelling at the base of the tube...and has a little cavity in each angle large enough to hold two rows of the little white, shining, unripe seeds...The seeds should not be allowed to ripen as it costs the plant too much energy and thus robs the bulbs. The flowers should be cut just as they are opening." -Handbook of Nature Study