Description
For its small size, this is quite large-flowered, the blooms reaching up to 5cm long and it usually makes just one flower per stem. The flowers are made early in the year and perhaps as a result of the cooler temperatures then, they are notably long-lived. Researchers have recorded 17 days as average and this long flowering period, combined with the extra warmth provided within the flowers themselves, is tied into the activity and mobility of their exclusive pollinator, a species of small bee (Andrena bicolor – Gwynne’s mining bee).
The foliage and flowers emerge early and the first flowers open in February with the bulk appearing in March, in cultivation at least. The flower stems are maybe 20-25 cm tall. The flowers are a “typical” daffodil shape, corona is a slightly paler yellow, the petals a slightly darker shade. As the name implies, the spathe is well-developed and notably long and it sits behind both the flower and the developing seed pod, for some time.
This is not difficult in cultivation and it does not need the wet patches in which it is found in the wild. Just provide a fertile garden soil with a good humus content and reasonable drainage. We prefer to keep it in light-, or part-, shade, to help fend off the depredations of Narcissus fly (which prefer to lay in sun).
Known only from a few, fragmented populations in the Sierra del Pozo and Sierra de Alcaraz of southern Spain, this species is a native of wet soils, in those areas at up to 1,500m altitude. The 40 or so known wild locations are said to vary from a few plants to several thousand, but habitat loss means that this is considered to be endangered. It might be thought that with such a limited range and such small colonies, that it is not that variable, but research has shown that it has a wide genetic diversity, and, delightfully, it is self-compatible, so that good seed is usually set even without its bee partner. Ours are raised from Rafa Dominguez seed, in turn obtained from his own, cultivated, plants.
First listed April 2021
