Narcissus miniatus Donn.

Koopowitz, Harold, Howe, Marilynn & Christenhusz, Maarten J. M., 2017, Nomenclatural notes on some autumn flowering daffodils (Narcissus, Amaryllidaceae), Phytotaxa 297 (2), pp. 157-167 : 158

Narcissus miniatus Donn. -Morg., Koop. & Zonn. in Koopowitz et al. (2005: 22)

Type:— SPAIN. Cadiz Los Barrios, November 1999: H. Koopowitz 11006 (holotype, HNT!).

Notes:—There were two species masquerading under the name N. serotinus . One has a six-parted lemon-yellow very reduced corona with a single flower on the scape, while the other had either a three-parted or an entire, but somewhat triangular, sullen orange corona and one to many flowers on the stem. Neither plant has leaves at the time of flowering. Comparing genome size measurements it was possible to show that the plant with the orange corona was an allopolyploid natural hybrid of the yellow corona species and N. obsoletus , which was named N. miniatus ( Koopowitz et al. 2005) . Maire (1959) used the name ‘ Narcissus × obsoletus ’ for the occasional natural hybrid between N. elegans and N. serotinus . But we stress here that N. elegans and N. obsoletus pertain to the same biological species; hence, the name N. obsoletus holds nomenclatural priority and is not the name to be applied to the hybrid. The polyploid, fertile species of hybrid origin was named N. miniatus , and the epithet ‘ obsoletus ’ should not have been applied to the sterile hybrid as it was already used by Haworth for the “leafy autumnal” species. Unfortunately, in some modern treatments (e.g. Díaz Lifante & Andres Camacho 2007, Bergmeier et al. 2011), the name N. obsoletus has been applied erroneously to N. miniatus , as N. miniatus is not the “leafy” autumn daffodil of Parkinson and Haworth. Marques et al. (2010) used the name N. miniatus in the correct sense. In part, the confusion stems from the use by Parkinson of the descriptor ‘rush-like (juncifolius)’ for the leaves in N. obsoletus . Even thought ‘junciform’ is usually used for terete leaves, leaves of Juncus can be either terete or flattened, depending on the species. Both ‘ Narcissus juncifolius ‘ I ’ and ‘ II ’ of Tabernaemontanus (1590) illustrates plants with broader flattened leaves. Modern workers have confused these names for plants we now place in the Jonquilla complex (a name with the same etymology as Juncus ).