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This is the only flower of this kind in my yard. I hope it is not a weed, since it looks non-invasive to me. It is looking familiar to me, but I can't figure the species. I've never seen it in the yard before. From where did he come, and what is he doing here? Please help me identify him.

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VividD
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  • Kathleen, in _You've Got Mail_, thinks that [daisies are the friendliest flower](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBWmZbDAB_w). That's her opinion, which she's entitled to have, but she's wrong. The daffodil is the friendliest flower. Especially in bunches. – davidbak Mar 29 '18 at 15:26
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    Where in the world are you? Daffs are pretty well known here in Ireland. (And are a symbol of cancer support, both here and in Canada.) – TRiG Mar 29 '18 at 18:11
  • @TRiG South-eastern Europe. – VividD Mar 29 '18 at 18:25

1 Answers1

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This is a daffodil or Narcissus. It has a bulb so it will come back every year.

benn
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    Also known as _lent lily_, which explains the question "What is he doing here?" – pipe Mar 29 '18 at 12:14
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    One of my favourite flowers! Someone planted bulbs all over my neighbourhood a few years back, so every spring the neighbourhood turns yellow/white/orange and green. OP, no need to worry, they're non-invasive. – Belle Mar 29 '18 at 13:59
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    @pipe to be clear for future readers, that's *Lent Lily*, not *lent lily*; they are associated with the Christian Lent season and its associations with rebirth, not associated with the act of lending to someone... :-) – TylerH Mar 29 '18 at 14:42
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    Is "jonquil" a synonym for daffodil or is it a different flower? – davidbak Mar 29 '18 at 14:56
  • @TylerH Yes, good comment! I am not a native English speaker, but I searched in the dictionary for the word "lent" (which is not really widely-known to non-native speakers), and I found that meaning ("a period before Easter"). I like that name... – VividD Mar 29 '18 at 14:58
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    @davidbak jonquil refers to the same genus as daffodil/Narcissus. IIRC it is a regional name. – TylerH Mar 29 '18 at 15:00
  • They're very common here in northern Oregon, and ours also come in white. – Phil N DeBlanc Mar 29 '18 at 15:08
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    In response to comment by @davidbak also worth noting... jonquil flowers usually much smaller, however primary difference is scent - daffodil flowers have no scent while jonquil flowers emit a very strong scent. – andrewbuilder Mar 29 '18 at 16:24
  • @andrewbuilder - Ah thank you! The scent is an important difference! – davidbak Mar 29 '18 at 16:29
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    @Belle-Sophie: my wife and I moved into the first house we owned together in early fall, and spent that winter picking out daffodils to plant when spring came. Imagine our surprise when next spring THOUSANDS of daffodils came up - and we hadn't planted any yet! A prior owner had put in a lot of bulbs and had then ignored them. When we got there the leaves would grow but they wouldn't flower because over time they'd split so many times the bulbs were over-crowded. So we not only planted the bulbs we'd bought, but we also dug up and separated the bulbs that were already there. – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Mar 29 '18 at 18:34
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    @davidbak: It's the same flower. It's called "jonquille" in French. –  Mar 29 '18 at 20:23
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    While daffodils are non-invasive, it is worth remembering where you put the bulbs, because they're pretty strong growers. A neighbour of mine once had a dozen or so daffodils happily punching their way up through their newly-laid tarmac driveway... – anaximander Mar 30 '18 at 07:35
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    Jonquils are daffodils, but not all daffodils are jonquils. All daffodils are *Narcissus*, but OP's is likely *[Narcissus pseudonarcissus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_pseudonarcissus)*, jonquils are *[Narcissus jonquilla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_jonquilla)*, the daffodil known as narcissus (or paperwhite) is *[Narcissus tazetta papyraceous](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_tazetta)*. – mcalex Mar 30 '18 at 11:13
  • Please don't think I'm criticizing your hugely popular answer! The thing is, it's almost link-only, so people have to go off-site to learn about the plant. See [this page](https://gardening.stackexchange.com/help/deleted-answers) in the [help]. If the link goes down, there's not enough information. The ideal would be for you to expand on your answer, although it might be difficult with these conflicting comments. Some of them don't follow protocol, and they don't stay around anyway, so if you could make your answer more complete, that would be great! Thanks! – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL Apr 02 '18 at 23:15
  • @Sue, thanks for your comment. I wrote a short answer so that other people can also write their answer. According to Area 51, 2.5 answers per questions are good, but only 1 answer per question is just okay. Feel free to add a better answer. – benn Apr 03 '18 at 08:40
  • b.nota, thanks for your kind and fast reply! Now I understand what you did! Thanks for reminding us about the goal of more than one answer per question. Maybe someone will add one here just for that reason, not to be better than your answer. I can't do it because I have lots of these flowers and call them all daffodils, so my answer would be the exact same as yours! – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL Apr 03 '18 at 18:09