ABSTRACT

Narcissus (daffodil) bulbs have been an important floricultural crop in western Europe since the late nineteenth century, although the bulbs have been grown in the Netherlands since the sixteenth century and Narcissus hispanicus has been cultivated in the UK for over 300 years as ‘N. maximus’ or ‘N. maximum superbus’ (Doorenbos, 1954). In a 1998 survey of consumers in the UK, daffodils were rated eighth in popularity amongst cut-flowers and achieved sixth position in value of sales, despite being relatively inexpensive and not available throughout the year (FPA, 1999). At the start of the twenty-first century, the narcissus or daffodil remains one of the major ornamental bulb crops grown in temperate regions, with large areas of field-grown crops providing both bulbs and flowers, while bulb ‘forcing’ in glasshouses provides flowers and pot-plants over an extended season. Rees (1993) estimated that the area of narcissus grown in gardens, parks, cemeteries, etc., is five-times the area grown commercially. The histories of commercial bulb growing in the UK, Netherlands and US, the major producing countries, have been described by Dobbs (1983), Krelage (1946) and Gould (1993), respectively.