THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY : ITS ROLE AS THE INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION AUTHORITY FOR NARCISSUS

Since the late nineteenth century, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has promoted the exhibiting and registration of Narcissus cultivars. In 1884 the Society held a Daffodil Conference at which it was agreed to adopt fanciful, rather than Latin names for Narcissus hybrids. A list of newly-coined cultivar names, classified according to corona length, was issued - the precursor of the RHS List of Daffodil Names.

The first List, published in 1907, was simply an enumeration of some 1 400 cultivar names; subsequent Lists were more informative and periodically proposed revisions to the classification system.

The preparation of the twenty-second edition, the first to furnish descriptions, is the principal task of the full-time registrar.