Hi Henry,
While I agree with Ben that the bulbs are probably a later addition and hence not Roman (esp. if we’re talking about the fall of the Empire c.400AD), to me I’d love to know when they were added. Were they added in the 20th C, or the 19th, or even earlier? Was this a civic beautification project of some ilk or variety, or were folks living on the site centuries later and this is the remnant of an older garden, or -? As other sites have similar flowers present, I’d wonder about later re-inhabitations of the archaeological sites (not uncommon in world history).
It looks like there is other, non paperwhite foliage in the shot; i’m curious as to what it might be~
For paperwhites having come from Italy to supply the commercial European bulb trade from the 1700s on, there’s not much information in English (I can’t read Italian!!) about the history of paperwhites as garden flowers in Italian villages.
Fun stuff to think about while sitting in the rain, waiting for the cold front to freeze off the end of my tazettas and paperwhites…
-Sara
(I have re-sent the image as i’ve included the Historic Daff listserve, and many folks there are not on DaffSeek – starting with my dear mother… Hi Mom!)
Sara,
:-) I’m not so sure this could have come about only after the fall of the
Roman Empire. There are books that document the daffodil, (narcissis), in
BC as well as in Muslin writing from about the 6th century AD. That old
“butter cup” or ours has a very long history. LOL
Clay
Clay E. Higgins
240-632-0002
—-
Hi Everyone,
I think we need to re read Henry’s original letter. The photo of paperwhites was taken in Morocco. I have also checked Blanchard’s description of the species which states a very wide distribution. Is it then possible that the species in Henry’s photo are of an original wild form, or maybe have not been moved very far to be growing where they are?
Henry also listed other plants seen in the photo.
Dave