From the start of the year, we see them raise their heads on verges and in parks: the flowers of the daffodil. The narrow leaves pushing through the grass in a bundle of grey-green fingers, and some weeks later, buds fattening and finally opening those yellow flowerheads we all love so much. This is our sign that winter is almost over – the flowers of Cymru!
There are more varieties of this flower than we can count. Gardeners have developed them to flower earlier or to last longer, to be taller or to have more frills around the edges. But we have natural native daffodils too, much rarer now, and they grow in damp fields or ancient woodlands. Look out for them: you will see them grow in clumps, shorter than their garden relatives, and their petals are a brighter yellow than the trumpet in the heart of the flower.
Common names such as lent lily or Osterglocken in German (easter bells) highlight their closeness with spring and the time around Easter. In Cymru, both the leek (cenhinen) and the daffodil (cenhinen Pedr) are Welsh symbols shown to celebrate Saint David’s Day: as the saying goes, ‘Wear a cennin in your cap, and wear it in your heart’. While the daffodil is relatively new as national emblem, the symbol of the traditional leek goes back centuries to the time when a regiment of Welshmen wore the vegetable in their caps to recognize each other in a battle against the Saxons!
Chemicals extracted from the daffodil are used to treat conditions like Alzheimer’s disease or tumors, but don’t eat them! They’re toxic.
On the slopes above Dyffryn Conwy, there’s a hillside woodland where the walker will come across carpets of our native cennin Pedr flowers. The Gwreiddiau Gwyllt Conwy project is organising a walk on 13 March from Henryd towards the old church of Llangelynnin and on to see the daffodils. Join us if you can! We will meet at 10:00 and be back by 14:30. Book your place by contacting judith@mentrauiaith.cymru.
If you like flowers and Cymraeg, the book Blodau Gwyllt https://carreg-gwalch.cymru/blodau-gwyllt-312-p.asp is worth a look. You can also visit https://llennatur.cymru/Y-Bywiadur which gives you species’ names in Cymraeg and English. And if you know your flowers well, what about contributing to the Plantnet app in Gymraeg to grow their database of Welsh names? The Heritage Lottery funded Gwreiddiau Gwyllt project is collecting resources with nature terms that will be available to the public all in one place at the end of the project.