Ever wonder how and why beautiful daffodils grow in the wild, especially near ponds, brooks and springs?

Well, look no further than Greek mythology.

Daffodils belong to the genus known as Narcissus, which are predominantly spring perennial plants of the Amaryllidaceae family. Members of the genus are are the daffodil, daffadowndilly, narcissus, and jonquil.

Here is the myth of Narcissus, after whom these beautiful flowers are named:

Narcissus was a Greek hunter who loved beauty. He had a twin sister whom he loved more than anyone else in the world. This sister died when she was young and very beautiful. Narcissus missed her so very much that he wished he might die too.

One day, as he sat on the ground by a spring, looking absently into the water and thinking of his lost sister, he saw a face like hers looking up at him. It seemed as if his sister had become a water-nymph and was actually there in the spring, but she would not speak to him.

Of course the face Narcissus saw was really the reflection of his own face in the water, but he did not realize that. In those days there were no clear mirrors like today’s; and that a person could see his appearance in, for instance, a polished brass shield was a foreign concept. So Narcissus leaned over the water and looked at the beautiful face so like his sister's, and wondered what it was and whether he would ever see his sister again.

After this, he came back to the spring day after day and looked at the face he saw there, and mourned for his sister. At last, the gods felt sorry for him and changed him into a flower and let him grow at the water’s edge.

This flower was the first narcissus or daffodil. All the flowers of this family, when they grow by the side of a pond or a stream, still bend their beautiful heads and look at the reflection of their own faces in the water.

So, there you have it. That’s why daffodils grow so beautifully in the wild.

Thank you Narcissus for giving us beautiful landscapes of nearby ponds, lakes and streams.