Photograph by Barbara Bell, 2009.
Like the parent species, N. pseudonarcissus, this daffodil is of European origin. It is widely established in South Wales, although whether it is native or naturalized there is a matter of debate. Similar narcissus are recorded for central Spain (RHS Index of Garden Plants, 1994). Known as the Tenby daffodil, from the district in Pembrokeshire where it abounds, this narcissus has short, stiff stems and uniformly yellow flowers; the petals of the corolla are held at right angles to the trumpet (Richard Mabey, Flora Brittanica, 1996). In modern times, the Tenby daffodil has become a national botanical symbol of Wales, although it has not supplanted the older and humbler leek, whose pedigree as an heraldic emblem of Cymru can be traced to the Middle Ages. The Tenby daffodil was popularized by the British prime minister David Lloyd George, who wore it on the first of March in honor of Saint David, and to the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1911. At least one writer thinks that the daffodil was promoted by middle-class Welsh who considered the leek too vulgar and smelly a choice for a national badge.