Narcissus is well Basque, the flower beyond myth. Before we brought the myth through the east we called the narcissus lilipa. Then we call them "carnival flowers," probably by a religion. Narcissus jonquilla, a species with junc-like leaves, is known as “horse mackerel” and also as “malignant amble” (Narcissus pseudonarcissus).
In the western Mediterranean, in southern Europe and in North Africa, this gender of people originates in clear forests and meadows, but the center of their diversity is the Iberian Peninsula. It's estimated that there are about 50 species. These wild species were of enormous prestige in European gardens, particularly in England, and until the 19th century the Netherlands was its main point of sale and distribution. In England, they were so admired that they began to work and create hybrids between species. From these species derive the 27,000 hybrids and crops we know today. Just as hybrids are born from spontaneous mixtures in nature, crops are the by-products of mixtures caused by people. As a result of these mixtures we find lilips with very special characteristics such as the flower abundance, its shape and color, the size of the petiole, the thrust towards reproduction and expansion, etc.
Many of them come from the nine species and subspecies that we have identified as autochthonous in the Basque Country. There are the grandmothers of those thousands that we enjoy in the gardens today: Narcissus assoanus, N. tazzeta, N. triandus subsp triandus, N. triandrus subsp. pallidulus, N. bulbocodium subsp. citrinus, N. pseudonarcissus subsp. palbregflorus, N pseudonarcissus subsp. nobilis, N. asturiensis and N. minor. These were collected in the Plant Catalog of the CAPV in 1985. The Aranzadi Society of Sciences is conducting a study to review all the genus of lilipa currently living in the Basque Country. If you want to collaborate, if you see the fascination in a wild environment, we take two photos (full plant and flower nearby) and share them on Twitter with the hashtag #lilipa.
Fascination brings spring and movement, which goes…