The public is being urged to search for lost varieties of daffodils that are feared to be extinct in their gardens.
Three types of daffodil have seemingly disappeared, but the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is determined to find them as spring begins to bloom.
The three types have unusual colorations: in pink, white and a ‘bonfire’ yellow.
The RHS is launching a ‘daffodil diaries’ project, as it marks 100 years since the charity’s science helped save the daffodil, asking industry and gardeners to log where the flower is blooming in the area alongside basic information such as colour, type and height.
Scientists at the RHS will use the information from the mapping project to understand the environmental influences on the popular spring plant, its spread, and what buyers prefer.
The horticultural charity is also asking people to join the hunt for three daffodil varieties which are at risk, or even thought to be extinct, saying the search will help better understand the UK’s gardening heritage and aid their survival.
It could even ensure the preservation of genetic material that could be valuable for breeding daffodils for the future as the climate changes, the RHS said.
The three rare varieties people are being asked to look out for are:
- Mrs R O Backhouse, one of the first pink daffodils, which has a solid coral pink trumpet and ivory flowers and is thought to have been bred by leading female hybridist Sara Backhouse and named by her husband after her death in 1921. It is known to exist in national collections, but not beyond, with the majority of reported discoveries actually Salome whose yellow trumpet changes to peach.
- Mrs William Copeland – a white double-flowered daffodil named after the wife of breeder WFM Copeland, which has not been on sale in recent years, but was known to have been gifted to a direct descendant via an American grower in the early 2000s.
- Sussex bonfire – a double-flowered yellow and orange daffodil bred by amateur breeder Noel Burr who registered 58 new cultivars of daffodils, but this bloom has never been located.
The Sussex Bonfire daffodil – a double-flowered yellow and orange daffodil bred by amateur breeder Noel Burr
The Mrs William Copeland daffodil – a white double-flowered daffodil named after the wife of breeder WFM Copeland
The Mrs R O Backhouse daffodil – one of the first pink daffodils
Daffodils, which are synonymous with the arrival of spring and worn to mark St David’s Day, patron saint of Wales, on March 1, originated in the Iberian peninsula and North Africa.
Originally grown to treat a range of ailments, by the 1600s daffodils were recorded as being grown for their beautiful blooms, and from the early 1800s they became hugely popular in Britain and being deliberately bred to create new garden varieties, the RHS said.
The daffodil diaries project, which runs from February 12 to March 4, comes as the RHS marks a century since its scientist James Kirkham Ramsbottom was honoured for developing a hot water treatment against eelworms which is credited with saving the daffodil.
It remains a standard precaution for bulb production today, the horticultural experts said. The RHS also holds the register of known daffodil cultivars bred around the world.
Dr Kalman Konyves, daffodil expert with the RHS, said: “Daffodils have come to mark the arrival of spring and are celebrated for their welcome burst of colour in gardens, parks and roadsides. ‘But there’s more to this ubiquitous yellow flower than meets the eye, with 31,000 known varieties available in green, pink and red. ‘Understanding where they can be found will help us in preserving this diversity for the future.’
Gwen Hines, chief executive of plant conservation charity Plant Heritage, which helped select which rare cultivars to search for, said: ‘Springtime daffodils are abundant, but rare varieties could be lost from our gardens and roadsides if they’re not found and cared for.
‘While six national plant collections do protect some, many others aren’t yet safeguarded, which is why we encourage everyone to look for rare varieties this spring.’
