Have you ever heard of the Narcissus plant?
I've heard the name Narcissus before, but I didn't know it was a plant, no. What is it?
The more common names would be a daffodil, jonquil, etc.. they are all members of the Narcissus variety
Oh I know what a daffodil is, duh. My sister actually has made paintings of them before. She's incredibly talented.
The genus has about 50 species/varieties, but the scientific name is just not that well known.
Scientific names and taxonomic nomenclature are kind of arcane to most people, yeah. To be fair though, you don't need to really know the genus/species unless you're a scientist.
is often linked to a Greek word for intoxicated (narcotic) and the myth of the youth of that name who fell in love with his own reflection. The English word "daffodil" appears to be derived from "asphodel", with which it was commonly compared.
The species are native to meadows and woods in southern Europe and North Africa with a centre of diversity in the Western Mediterranean, particularly the Iberian peninsula. Both wild and cultivated plants have naturalised widely, and were introduced into the Far East prior to
Narcissus (plant)
Narcissus is a genus of predominantly spring perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil, daffadowndilly, narcissus and jonquil are used to describe all or some members of the genus. "Narcissus" has conspicuous flowers with six petal-like tepals surmounted by a cup- or trumpet-shaped corona. The flowers are generally white or yellow (also orange or pink in garden varieties), with either uniform or contrasting coloured tepals and corona.
"Narcissus" were well known