Twin Sisters / Cemetery Ladies / April Beauties (13 W-Y) (Narcissus x medioluteus)

I became curious this week about my last-to-bloom narcissus. With its white perianths and very small cup coronas it’s been in my April garden since 2014.

N. ‘King Alfred’, ‘Tete-a-Tete’ and ‘Thalia’ are all finished just as this little one is starting to open. I wondered why the flowers sit inside the middle of the foliage and what to call it and tried to remember where I bought it.  It was I think just a little temptation in the small floral section of a neighborhood grocery, just a few bulbs lacking identification but packaged to entice.

Surprisingly quickly I found images online that matched my narcissus, read several stories about others who also searched for more information about this daffodil and concluded this is Narcissus x medioluteus.  (Please let me know if you doubt or have more information.)  It is a naturally-occurring hybrid between Narcissus poeticus and Narcissus tazetta. First discovered in France it is naturalized in many places now, including my state of North Carolina in the US.

Twin Sisters / Cemetery Ladies / April Beauties (13 W-Y) (Narcissus x medioluteus)

The common names I came across most frequently are cemetery ladies or twin sisters—twin sisters because they usually have a pair of flowers on each stem; cemetery ladies because they were often planted around graves in old cemeteries. That they normally exist in pairs threw me at first. I hadn’t at first noticed second buds piggy-backing on the stems, but yes, sure enough.

Twin Sisters / Cemetery Ladies / April Beauties (13 W-Y) (Narcissus x medioluteus)

Other common names for this little daffodil are Primrose-peerless, April beauty, loving couples, pale narcissus,  two-flowered narcissus. The poignant “Cemetery ladies”is the one I shall most likely remember.

Twin Sisters, Cemetery Ladies (13 W-Y) (Narcissus x medioluteus)

Division 13 – Daffodils distinguished solely by Botanical Name
Consists of the Species, Wild Variants, and Wild Hybrids found in natural daffodils.

Twin Sisters / Cemetery Ladies / April Beauties (13 W-Y) (Narcissus x medioluteus)