Pheasant's Eye Daffodil or Poet's Narcissus

Pictured in English herbals of the early 1600s, this wild daffodil grows in endless variety in alpine meadows from Spain into the Balkans. The oldest available form, Narcissus poeticus var. recurvus, dates to 1831 but is indistinguishable from those in colonial gardens, including those of Colonial Williamsburg (Narcissus poeticus). Famously fragrant and intriguingly dainty, it’s often spring’s last daffodil, with loose, recurving white petals that arch back from a “green eye and crimson-fringed crown."

This variety has been known to naturalize easily and has been found to live in gardens for hundred of years. I purchased this batch from Johnny's Selected Seeds four years ago, and they are just beautiful here in the late spring. Their new growth emerged the first week of March. This variety of daffodil has not been hybridized.

From A Modern Herbal, Mrs. M. Grieve writes, "The bulbs of N. poeticus (Linn.), the POET'S NARCISSUS, are more dangerous than those of the Daffodil, being powerfully emetic and irritant. The scent of the flowers is deleterious, if they are present in any quantity in a closed room, producing in some persons headache and even vomiting."