Plant Lore Of Great Britain - Daffodils

A Host of Daffodils and the Heralds of Spring. In my mind, there is only one plant I could choose for this Spring Equinox edition of Pagans of the North, and that is the joyous and boisterous Daffodil. As early as January, I had spotted a host of them growing on a newly built roundabout on a particularly grey and dismal day, and with it, the relief that spring was finally on her way. 

In Britain, we have two native daffodil species; the Tenby Daffodil (Narcissus obvallaris) and the Lent Lily or Wild Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus). It is thought that these native daffodils were initially brought over to the UK by the Romans, who would plant them in memory of loved ones or comrades that had fallen in battle. However, another theory is that the daffodil had already been present, but disappeared after the ice age and the Romans reintroduced afterwards. According to the Royal Horticultural Society, there are now 32,000 cultivars listed in the Daffodil Register and the UK now grows more daffodils commercially than any other country in the world. If you feel so inclined, I particularly recommend looking up photos of the “Bridal Crown”, “Barrett Browning”, “Merlin” and “Jet Fire” daffodil cultivars which are particularly beautiful. Adding to these evocative cultivar names, we also have colloquial names for the daffodil which includes Daffydown (Derbyshire), Trumpets (Yorkshire), Gold Bells (Devon) and Sun Bonnets (Dorset). 

The daffodil or Cennin Pedr is the national flower of Wales and growing up in South Wales during the 1980s, we would dutifully wear a single fresh daffodil every St David’s Day (1st March) pinned to our chest. I remember we would all carefully wrap the trimmed bases in tinfoil so our flowers wouldn’t dry out and wilt during the day. A sign of the times was that boys were not permitted to wear the daffodil and instead sported a leek (the bigger, the better) which they duly insisted on eating raw once the school day was over. 

The spiritual attributes of the daffodil can vary between and within cultures. Positive spiritual attributes include rebirth, joy, renewal, resilience, luck, and hope; unsurprising as they are one of the first flowers to bloom, heralding in the spring. In the Victorian Language of Flowers, their presence in a bouquet represented chivalry and receiving an entire bouquet of just daffodils was said to bring joy and happiness. In China, daffodils are said to bestow good luck and if they are blooming or present at your home when the Chinese new year arrives, you will be bound for luck for the year ahead. Similarly, in Wales, daffodils were also associated with prosperity and whoever saw the first daffodil each spring was blessed with wealth for the year ahead. 

The daffodil belongs to the genus narcissus, a name derived from the tale of Narcissus, the Greek hunter who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Upon realising his reflection could never reciprocate his love, he burned in a fit of fiery passion, eventually turning into a white and gold narcissus flower. Hence, another attribute of the daffodil is one of vanity. In Scotland it is considered unlucky to even pluck a daffodil growing in the wild due to the potential for disturbing and therefore angering the sleeping fae within the flowers. 

Whether the daffodil is seen as a positive or negative force seems to depend upon the number of daffodils received or offered. As mentioned above, receiving a large bouquet of daffodils will bring one joy and happiness, however, if you were to receive a single flower, you would succumb to misfortune. In south and western England, it was considered bad luck to bring daffodils into the house of anyone who kept chickens as they would prevent the eggs from hatching. However, conversely, if you were to bring a large enough number of daffodils into your home, good fortune would prevail and the number of flowers would equal the number of eggs in a successful hatch. In a somewhat similar vein, happening across a host of daffodils growing wild in an area, is said to indicate the presence of an old sacred site such as a monastery. 

In the first paragraph, I referred to the daffodil as a “boisterous” flower as they always appear to be raucously heralding in the spring, the growing light and the promise of warmth. They are a sign of hope and I find them particularly comforting at this moment in time with the world being so full of hatred and fear. Wishing you all a hopeful and blessed Spring Equinox.  By Clare Lesley Hughes

Bibliography 

Hatfield, G., 2009. Hatfield's Herbal: The Curious Stories of Britain's Wild Plants. Penguin UK.

Morton Hall Gardens https://mortonhallgardens.co.uk/head-gardeners-journal/a-golden-spring accessed on 15th February 2026

Royal Horticultural Society https://www.rhs.org.uk/garden-inspiration/plants-we-love/daffodils-in-the-uk accessed on 14th February 2026 

Vickery, R., 2019. Vickery's Folk Flora: An A-Z of the Folklore and Uses of British and Irish Plants. Hachette UK.