Narcissus pseudonarcissus.commons.wikimedia.org (Accessed 3/2015).

Narcissus pseudonarcissus is a perennial monocotyledon spring ephemeral herb, from bulbs, sparsely colonial from bulb offsets, flowering stems hollow, 20-40 cm long, juicy, sap mucilaginous. 

Leaves, alternate, all basal, to 20-40 cm long, linear, dull blue-green, rather thick, dying back in summer. 

Flowers yellow, radially symmetrical, 4-6 cm wide, tubular at base, corolla 6-parted with petals and sepals alike (tepals) in a whorl at base of a trumpet-shaped crown-like structure with a frilled margin, about as long as petals, (corona), fragrant; stamens arising from inside corona; ovary inferior, 3-parted; flowers solitary at top of stem. 

Fruit becoming dry, a 3-parted capsule, seeds numerous, but rarely maturing in our region. 

Wetland status: UPL. 

Frequency in NYC: Infrequent. 

Origin: Europe, N. Africa. 

Habitat: Infrequently planted in natural areas or escaping from garden waste. 

Notes: Apparently not reproducing except by slow vegetative increase of bulbs in situ. Approximately 26 sp., many cultivars and hybrids, all horticultural (Bailey and Bailey 1976). Other common species N. jonquilla 2-6 smaller yellow flowers per stalk, corona shallow; N poeticus, flowers white 5 cm wide, corona short, yellow with a red margin. Some taxonomic treatments put Narcissus in the family Amaryllidaceae (Fernald 1950). Bulbs and probably other parts toxic (Kingsbury 1964).