
We did have one record of Narcissus sp. in flower during last year's New Year Plant Hunt but we are likely to get more this year, so I was thinking how nice it would be to go a little further in our daffodil identifications this year.

Mick - who only last month wowed his audience at the BSBI Exhibition Meeting with a fascinating talk on Alien Plants and is co-author (with Clive Stace) of the recent 'Aliens' title in the New Naturalist series - is also an expert on the identification of garden plants such as snowdrops and daffodils. He is also the author of the Daffodil Key.
"It would be great if you could record the daffodils that you find in flower on this year’s New Year Plant Hunt. There are only likely to be four of them, and they are very easy to tell apart.
The all-yellow, classic early daffodil (top and above) is Narcissus
'Rijnveld's Early Sensation’ (pronounced Rhine-felt).
This is the one that is
in flower every year on New Year’s Day, and every year causes people with short
botanical memories to comment on how early the Daffs are this year.

The white and yellow plant (above) is Narcissus
‘Spring Dawn’.
Because the trumpet is shorter than the petals, this is
classified as Division 2 (rather than its female parent 'Rijnveld's Early
Sensation’, above, which is D1), so ‘Spring Dawn’ is D2WY.
Then there are two Division 8 cultivars
(the Tazettas).

The all-white one (WW) is Narcissus ‘Paperwhite’ (on right and below). That's D8WW.
That is all there is to it. Please take photos of any other cultivars
you find, and send them to me at m.crawley@imperial.ac.uk.
I’m happy to try and name them for you".
Mick Crawley, Silwood Park, Ascot
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