ments, flat on one side, and nearly subsemicylindrical on
the other: limh composed of 6 horizontally spreading, elliptic,
acute segments, of a bright yellow. Crown nearly
flat, more or less plaited or undulate, scarcely crenulate at
the edges, 5 or 6 times shorter than the segments of the perianthium,
of a bright yellow. Stamens 6, 3 inserted in the
tube a little below the throat : jilaments short, smooth, attached
to the anthers about half way up their back, and included
in the throat ; the other 3 attached in the throat, the
anthers exserted : anthers 2-lobed, bursting in front for the
exclusion of the pollen. Style smooth, slightly exserted.
Stigma small, 3-lobed, the lobes rounded and slightly pustulose,
flatly spreading.
The present genus is nearly related to the true genus Narcissus,
but differs in the 3 lower stamens being inserted and
included in the throat, the anthers of the 3 upper ones more
or less exserted ; the longer and more compressed tube, and
the shorter segments of the limb : it agrees with it in its short
spreading crown, and robust tube. It is also related to Hermione,
in bearing only 2 rows of ovulæ in each cell, but differs
in its short spreading crown, the thickness of its tube,
and the narrowness of its foliage ; it is also allied to Jonqudla
in its short spreading cup and form of the leaves, but differs
essentially in the form of its ovulæ, in the present being obo-
vately spathulate, and in Jonquilla being subreniform. There
is no other genus in the section of N a r c i s s i n e æ to which
it has any need to be compared.
When a boy, we recollect well that a playmate of ours
had another species of this genus, with a pale sulphur-coloured
flower, with several other species and varieties of Narcissi
in his garden ; he had some dozens of it ; the crown vvas
the shortest of any we ever saw. It is still, perhaps, existing
in some garden in the same village, which is Cockington, near
Torquay, the villagers there being very fond of the cultivation
of flowers.
The generic name is a poetical one, derived from Helena,
the daughter of Leda, by Jupiter, in the shape of a swan,
the most beautiful woman of her time ; married to Menelaus,
King of the Lacedemonians, to whom she bore Hermione.
Afterwards, stole away by Paris, which occasioned the war
between Greece and Troy, and the destruction of the latter.
I . Perianthium spread open, to show th e insertion o f th e 6 Stamens ; 3 o f them in serted
beiow the throat, and 3 in th e mouth, with the anthers ex ser ted . 2. O v anum .
3. S ty le , terminated by the 3-lobed fimbriate Stigma.