The New Student's Reference Work/Narcissus

Narcis'sus, genus of flowering plants with bulbous, perennial roots; leaves and flower-stalks annual. The name is from a Greek word meaning torpor, and has reference to the narcotic properties of the plants. There are several species, among them daffodils and jonquils. The narcissus is widely distributed in the Old World, being found in southern Europe, northern Africa, Persia, China and Japan. The flower was beloved of the ancients, has oft been sung by the poets, and about it cluster myth and legend. Narcissus poeticus is celebrated in Greek and Roman verse; pseudo narcissus is the common English daffodil; N. polyanthus is the parent of the cultivated variety, grown extensively by florists and treasured as a garden-flower.