The most popular nickname for a daffodil is jonquil, though most people use that term wrong. Other names include Lent lily, narcissus, and butter-and-eggs. Each one has its own history and regional flavor.
In my experience talking with older gardeners in the South, everyone calls these flowers jonquils. I spent a weekend at a garden club in Tennessee where nobody said the word daffodil once. When I looked into it later, I found that jonquil only applies to one small group of daffodils. True jonquils belong to Division 7. They have thin, grass-like leaves and small, sweet-smelling flowers that grow in clusters on each stem.
The daffodil vs jonquil mix-up runs deep in American gardens. In the South, calling one a jonquil is so common that nobody blinks. But the two terms are not the same thing. Daffodil is the right common name for every flower in the genus. Jonquil names just one small group within that family. It's like calling every dog a beagle.
MU Extension makes the naming order clear for you. Narcissus is the formal genus name. Carl Linnaeus set it up in 1753. Daffodil became the common English name for the whole genus over the years that followed. Jonquil kept its spot as the name for Narcissus jonquilla and its close kin. All three terms point to the same family but at different levels.
Penn State Extension says 50 to 200 species of Narcissus exist today. The count depends on which expert you ask. The American Daffodil Society started in 1954 to sort out the naming mess. They keep track of named cultivars and sort them into thirteen groups based on flower shape and traits.
These daffodil common names show you how your location shapes what you call the same flower. In the UK, Lent lily stuck because wild daffodils bloom during Lent in late winter. The old English name butter-and-eggs came from the two-tone look of wild types. You see yellow petals around a deeper golden cup that looks like an egg yolk.
You can call your flowers whatever feels right in casual talk. Nobody will correct you at a garden party. But if you're buying bulbs or talking with a grower, use daffodil for the general flower. Save jonquil for the fragrant, thin-leaved Division 7 types. You'll sound like you know your stuff and you will.
Read the full article: Daffodil Bulbs: Planting and Care Guide
