The original species of Chinese narcissus was introduced from Italy in the Tang Dynasty. It is a variety of narcissus tazetta l. It has been cultivated in China for more than 1000 years. After thousands of years' cultivation, it has become one of the best daffodils in the world, one of the top ten traditional famous flowers in China, ranking tenth. In the Southern Song Dynasty, daffodils spread more widely, and there were traces of daffodils all over the south of the Yangtze River.
The cultivation center moved to the capital Lin 'an (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang) and the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang, which was recorded in various local chronicles of the Southern Song Dynasty. The commodity production of daffodils is also very prosperous in this area. For example, the Narcissus Theory of the Southern Song Dynasty records that the daffodils planted by gardeners in Jianyang (now Nanping City, Fujian Province) are "if they are in full bloom, they will last forever"
Cause of rise
The rise of narcissus cultivation in Fujian and Zhejiang coastal areas in the Southern Song Dynasty was due to many reasons, such as biology and sociology. The southeast coast is a distribution center for overseas trade, and it is easy to obtain exotic species directly from overseas. Narcissus originated from Mediterranean coast is also more suitable for planting in southeast coastal areas of China. Zhejiang and northern Fujian are adjacent to Lin 'an, the then capital, and are the political, economic and social population centers at that time, which is conducive to the commodity production and development of this ornamental consumption species.
This production and planting scene laid the basic pattern and corresponding industrial tradition of narcissus planting and circulation in China. The distribution of narcissus planting in Yuan Dynasty basically continued the situation in Southern Song Dynasty, and literature and art reflected real life. No matter the literary works or paintings with narcissus as the theme in Yuan Dynasty, the author's living area was highly concentrated in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, which reflected the characteristics of narcissus planting and distribution in Yuan Dynasty.