Description
N. × bernardii DC ex Hénon
13
[Species]
(Wild hybrid {N. abscissus? × N. poeticus}, introduced c.1878)
We have cherished this enchanting and name-defying dainty daffodil for twenty-seven years, and have at last concluded that it is a selection of N. x bernardii, a spontaneous, natural hybrid found in the Pyrenees where trumpet species (such as N. abscissus) and N. poeticus grow together. Being an inter-specific hybrid between such different parents, much variation in form and colour is to be expected. This form – with a short, straight, neatly pleated, primrose cup, tinged soft orange at the lightly ruffled rim, and flicked back, pure white perianth segments – would appear to be most similar to the plants collected from near Luchon in 1878 by The Hon. Mrs Barton, of Straffan House, County Kildare, and subsequently dubbed the “Straffan Snowdrop”. Various selections were offered by Barr & Sons and it was even trialled as a cut-flower in Scilly 1886-7.
