Daffodils: Introduction

Daffodils, Narcissi, Jonquils, and Paperwhites are all essentially variants of the same flower: they are all members of the genus Narcissus. For the purposes of this site, I will refer to them all as different types of daffodils.

There are at least 25 different species of daffodils, though not all are cultivated to the same extent. Currently there are over 13,000 different hybrid varieties available. From this alone it should be evident that daffodils are some of the most popular spring-blooming flowers being cultivated, and for good reason:

They are extremely easy to grow: the bulbs require very little care after planting.
Most types of daffodil are extremely winter hardy, and will grow in a wide range of climates.
Unlike some other types of bulbs, deer and rodents don't eat daffodil bulbs.
Colours range from white to yellow, pink, salmon, orange, and red-orange.
Several species of daffodils are very sweetly scented.
Daffodils are widely available: nurseries, mail order catalogs, on-line, hardware stores, and supermarkets.

Currently in use is a system which classifies all cultivated varieties into 13 divisions. I have used this as basis for the following chart. Click on different parts of this to see more details about different types of daffodils:

1. Trumpet Daffodils		2. Long Cup Daffodils
3. Short Cup Daffodils		4. Double Daffodils
5. Triandrus Daffodils		6. Cyclamineus Daffodils
7. Jonquilla Daffodils		8. Tazetta Daffodils
9. Poeticus Daffodils		10. Bulbocodium Hybrids
11. Split Corona Daffodils		12. Miscellaneous Daffodils
13. Species Daffodils, Wild Variants, and Wild Hybrids		14. Paperwhites
15. Miniatures