Narcissus jonquilla, commonly known as jonquil or rush daffodil, is a bulbous flowering plant, a species of the genus Narcissus (daffodil) that is native to Spain and Portugal but has now become naturalised in many other regions: France, Italy, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, Madeira, British Columbia in Canada, Utah, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, and the southeastern United States from Texas to Maryland.
Narcissus jonquilla bears long, narrow, rush-like leaves (hence the name jonquil, Spanish, from the Latin 'rush').[1] [2] In late spring it bears heads of up to five scented yellow or white flowers. It is a parent of numerous varieties within Division 7 of the horticultural classification.[3] Division 7 in the Royal Horticultural Society classification of Narcissus includes N. jonquilla and N. apodanthus hybrids and cultivars that show clear characteristics of those two species.[4] [5]
N. jonquilla has been cultivated since the 18th century in France as the strongest of the Narcissus species used in narcissus oil, a component of many modern perfumes.