Daffodils enjoying life on the wild side

11:58am Thursday 21st February 2008

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IF there is one flower that is surely associated with the forthcoming spring, it must be the daffodil.

As I pen these notes, it seems our countryside will be covered with these distinctive yellow flowers well ahead of their usual date for blooming - indeed many are already open.

We tend to associate them with the Easter holiday, but of course, Easter is also very early this year. Maybe the daffodils know that and will be putting on a splendid display in time for the holiday?

The daffodil is one species of flower that seems to thrive as well in the wild as it does under cultivation but the truth is there are many varieties, some better suited for our dales and moors while others require a good deal of tender loving care in a garden-style environment.

There are some 25,000 varieties around the world with some 600 in Britain, and we are even exporting British daffodil bulbs to Holland.

However, those that grow in the wild can cause some confusion because they are often called Lenten lilies, quite simply because they grow and blossom during the season of Lent. The Lenten lily, sometimes called the Easter lily, is not a lily at all but a distinct species of wild daffodil. It looks rather like a narcissus with two primrose-coloured flowers upon a single stalk.

The confusion is not helped because in different parts of the country, the wild daffodil has many other names. They include Butter and Eggs, Bell Flowers, Churns, Cowslips, Daffydowndilly, Easter Rose, Golden Trumpets, Gold Bells, Cuckoo Rose, Sun Bonnets, Queen Anne's Flowers, St Peter's Bell, King's Spear, Ruffles, Hoop Petticoats, Goose Leeks, Yellow Maidens, Grace Daisies and many more. Whether such a name relates to a single variety or to all daffodils is very difficult to ascertain.

Wild daffodils can generally be distinguished from most cultivated varieties by their small size and they also seem to favour a particular kind of environment that is generally associated with damp woodlands or moist riverside fields.

People have tried unsuccessfully to lift the bulbs and then grow them in gardens and parks, but today it is illegal to uproot or pick wild daffodils.

Although it is claimed wild daffodils are diminishing in numbers due to thoughtless picking, uprooting of bulbs and even trampling by tourists' boots, they continue to flourish in large numbers in many northern dales and quiet woodlands.

Nonetheless, they do require protection from human predators!

Areas within the North York Moors are especially noted for the profusion of wild daffodils in the smaller dales with Farndale probably being the best known.

Millions grow for several miles along the banks of the River Dove, although they also flourish in other quiet areas around Glaisdale, Egton Bridge and Rosedale.

No-one is quite sure why or how they arrived in such huge numbers in these quiet parts of Yorkshire.

One legend suggests the monks of Rievaulx Abbey planted them during their travels across their massive Yorkshire estates, and another says they were planted by the Martyr of the Moors, Father Nicholas Postgate. It is beyond doubt that he planted daffodils around his remote moorland hermitage near Ugthorpe, but none grows there now because they were all uprooted by overzealous pilgrims. Whether he planted any in the dales can only be speculation.

It is claimed the daffodil was introduced to Britain by the Romans who believed the sap possessed curative powers (although in fact it can be an irritant to the skin). Its name comes from the Greek asphodelus which in medieval Latin became affodilus, later becoming affodil or affrodil. It was from this word that our "daffodil" is derived.

Certainly, the flower is known to have been present in England during the 17th century, for the famous herbalist, Nicholas Culpepper, recommended it to ease all obstructions of the body. The bulb was considered important from a herbal and curative point of view, and when crushed and mixed with barley, it was said to be useful in helping wounds to heal.

For most of us, however, the beautiful nodding heads of daffodils are a wonderful tonic after the dark, cold days of winter and they seem to thrive against the odds. We trust they will long remain a familiar sight in our increasingly ravaged countryside.