Pic Today 3/25/11

DAFFODILS:

SPRING'S DEADLY BEAUTY

It's hard to imagine a Spring

without the color and beauty of the noble daffodil.

With over 1,000 varieties and color combinations

of the ancient daffodil (genus narcissus),

there's a deadly side to this flowering spring bulb.

Daffodil bulbs contain a potent narcotic alkaloid,

and the sap from its flower stems is poisonous.

Roman soldiers carried daffodil bulbs into battle,

and if mortally wounded, they would eat a bulb,

ensuring a painless death.

Daffodil sap is poisonous and will shorten lives

of other cut flowers in arrangements

unless daffodil stems first soak in tepid water for 2 hours.

It's always best to naturalize daffodils in the yard.

This way you can leave the bulbs in the ground,

and let the stems wilt and fade away until next year.

(Just beauty to admire -- no poisons to worry about.)