Family |
Amaryllidaceae
Narcissus Tazetta
L.
Narcissus tazetta L.
First published in Sp. Pl.: 290 (1753).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 292, Pl. XCV, 4; 1966)
Description
Life-form & habit: Bulbous perennial, green or slightly bluish-green. Bulb ovoid to nearly spherical, 2–5 cm across, with membranous tunics often prolonged into sheaths around the stem base. Stem flattened, ridged and smooth, 20–30 cm long.
Leaves: Three to six linear, blunt leaves with a channelled surface. Spathe membranous, many-veined, broadly lanceolate and erect, up to 6 cm long, shortly tubular at the base.
Inflorescence & flowers: Cluster of 3–20 flowers on stalks of varying length, held obliquely, horizontally or nodding. Flowers usually strongly fragrant. Tepals spreading, oval, many-veined and yellowish-white; the bright orange crown is about one-third their length and slightly lobed.
Variation: Mouterde’s var. syriacus has longer, narrower tepals and a crown only one-quarter to one-fifth their length, with weak lobing. He considered it only slightly different from the typical form. Kew places Narcissus tazetta var. syriacus (Boiss. & Gaill.) Boiss. in N. tazetta subsp. tazetta.
Fruit: Brown, obovoid capsule with papery to leathery walls and many seeds in each chamber.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: Winter and early spring.
Habitat & elevation: Rocky places. Double-flowered garden forms sometimes spread near inhabited places.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Near Saida, Roumeile, Beirut, Sin el Fil, Nahr Beirut, Nahr el Kelb, Maameltein, Bouar, Jbail, Deir Moukhalles, Kfar Chima, above Dekouane, Bikfaya, Baabda–Jamhour, Abey and Qoubbayat.
Syrian distribution: Safita, Marmarita, Kessab, the Anti-Lebanon, Hauran, Qneitra, Damascus and Aleppo.
Recorded locations: Ain Aalaq.
Native range: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Baleares, Canary Is., China Southeast, Corse, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Egypt, France, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Morocco, NW. Balkan Pen., Pakistan, Palestine, Sardegna, Sicilia, Sinai, Spain, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan.
Introduced into: Alabama, Arkansas, Azores, Bermuda, California, Florida, Great Britain, Korea, Louisiana, Mexico Central, Mississippi, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Norfolk Is., North Carolina, Oregon, Portugal, South Australia, South Carolina, Tadzhikistan, Tasmania, Texas, Transcaucasus, Türkiye-in-Europe, Virginia, West Himalaya, Western Australia.