Description
‘Empire’
2W-WYY
[Large-cupped 4a]
(Crosland, E.M., pre-1908)
Under ‘Varieties for Show Table’, the Revd Joseph Jacob wrote that ‘Empire’ was “…perhaps the finest giant Leedsii yet raised, possessing extraordinary substance” (Daffodils, c.1910). Two years later, Barrs’ Gold Medal Daffodils catalogue described the variety as “…one of the finest of this class, and a very noble and beautiful flower of highest type… crown… exquisitely frilled, foliage broad and blue-grey…”. A quarter of a century later, ‘Empire’ was still regarded as having “remarkable beautiful flowers… very noble…” in P. de Jager and Sons’ 1939 Flower-Bulbs catalogue. The broadly ovate, milk-white perianth segments are remarkably overlapping for a daffodil bred before 1908. The lightly ridged and furrowed cup flares gently to a widely expanded mouth with a slightly ruffled, crenate rim; opening clear soft yellow, it is usually creamy white by maturity.
