NATURE TABLE: Wild Daffodils

Narcissus pseudonarcissus

Wild daffodils are native woodland plants of western Europe, including England and Wales, that have been introduced across the temperate world.

They are endangered over most of their range and national parks have been created in England to protect them. It is unclear whether they are Irish native plants.

The probability is that they’re not but the difficulty arises because wild daffodil bulbs are available for sale and cultivated varieties can also revert to a wild form.

The true wild daffodil is small with a trumpet that is darker yellow than the surrounding petals. However, most if not all of the daffodils flowering in the wild in Ireland at present are garden escapees.

They survive well in the wild because they protect themselves from grazing animals by containing an alkaloid poison called lycorine. The highest concentration is in the bulbs but it’s also present in the foliage and flowers. Lycorine is also poisonous to humans and there are recorded cases of illness and even death, usually caused when people mistake the bulb for an onion.

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