Segundo Ríos Ruiz

The origin of cultivation and wild ancestors of daffodils (Narcissus subgenus Ajax) (Amaryllidaceae) from an analysis of early illustrations

Abstract The “Ajax Group” (i.e. Pseudonarcissus) is one of the most important ancestors of modern daffodils cultivars. The manner in which these plants were introduced into the English, French and Dutch gardens appears relatively obscure since most are endemic to the Iberian Peninsula. Therefore, it was necessary to determine how their introduction into cultivation and domestication occurred. This study primarily utilised the comparison of data from Arab texts of agriculture, European Renaissance, and Prelinnaean ancient texts and illustrations, with the morphological characteristics of the currently known wild taxa from the territories of Spain and Portugal and primitive cultivars, which are the ancestors of the modern hybrid trumpet daffodils. The relationships among wild plants, domesticated plants, and primitive cultivars were investigated through a cluster analysis of the characters available from figures or botanical illustrations. The tree resulting from the complete linkage (CL) analysis and UPGMA analysis distinguished 26 different groups including wild; cultivated and wild; and cultivated daffodils. The cluster analysis demonstrated that N. nevadensis Pugsley and N. longispathus Pugsley, are closely related, and clearly distinct. They do not appear to have been in cultivation before the publication of their descriptions in the 20th century. A comparison of early descriptions, localities, and illustrations with currently wild species confirmed that several Iberian Peninsula endemics were cultivated in Central European gardens between the 16th and 18th centuries. Examples are: Narcissus abscissus Pugsley, N. jacetanus Fernandez Casas, N. asturiensis Henon, N. hispanicus Gouan, N. nobilis (Haw.) Schult. var. leonensis (Pugsley) A. Fernandes, N. pallidiflorus Pugsley and N. pseudonarcissus L. After the agglomerative analysis of similarities between the 101 illustrations and taxa, it appears that the characters involved in flower pigmentation evolved independently from other morphological characters. It obviously occurred in different places and at different times. Thus any colour flower group, even whites, is polyphylethic.