Description
(syn. N. bulbocodium pallidus. Please note that this is N. albicans and NOT Narcissus albidus, which is a separate species altogether)
A lovely member of the bulbocodium section. Despite the name, the flowers are not white, they are not meant to be and they are usually a cream-primrose when mature, with a tendency to be a little darker when the flowers first unfurl (some of our pictures show this darker colouring). The style is strongly exserted, the golden anthers are held more or less at the rim-level of the widely flaring corona (cup). The petals are quite broad for this section and at some stages of their development they can have a greenish tinge on the outside, towards the tips.
We grow this with many of our other Narcissus species, in plunged pots under barely frost-free glass, but it does well in an unheated tunnel house in the much colder climate of continental Europe. Our compost is a loam-based one with added sand, grit and coco-peat.
Narcissus albicans is regarded by Fernandez-Casas as a valid species. It is said by some to be a synonym of N. cantabricus (even though it is very different and it is not white, as are all cantabricus forms). However others regard it as a perfectly valid species, with a distinct geographical range, across parts of southern Spain. The status of North African plants said to be this species, remains unconfirmed and is highly confused by incorrect assumptions and misidentifications.
In 2018, the IUCN commissioned a study by Vicedo and Murillo and this is still the most well-reasoned and up-to-date actual study of the plant, which they regard as a valid Spanish species but one which is unconfirmed in Africa. (the link to this study is in our members’ area). One final suggestion in the literature was that it represented a fertile hybrid between cantabricus and bulbocodium. I can only think that was an offhand armchair guess based on flower colour. At the time no evidence was offered to substantiate the speculation and the forms or subspecies of the parents were not even suggested.
This stock is propagated vegetatively (only) originally from a German grower who grew them from those offered in 2011 by Bob and Rannveig Wallis under the name N. bulbocodium pallidus.
