How to Identify Jonquils and Daffodils

It’s one of the first flowers to bloom in your garden, while the early spring temperatures are still cool. It has a long stem and the prettiest yellow flowers. It’s a jonquil. No, it’s a daffodil. It's obvious that you don't know how to identify jonquils and daffodils. If you want to know which flower is which, there are things that will help you identify daffodils and jonquils.

Instructions

1. Check the trumpet or cup of the flower. A daffodil’s trumpet is often a different color than the petals and sometimes it might be bi-colored. They range in colors from white to soft yellow to deep yellow to a yellow with deep orange coronas or centers. Jonquils have blossoms that range in colors from creamy to soft yellow to butter yellow with orange coronas.

2. Smell the flowers. Jonquils are extremely fragrant. In fact, some experts will claim that this is the best way to identify a jonquil from a daffodil.

3. Look at the height of the flower. Jonquils grow to about 16 inches in height with blossoms that are about the size of a quarter. The cup of the plant is tiny, usually only about one-fourth as long as the petals of the flower. Daffodils, however, range from dainty 1/2-inch blooms on 2-inch stems to giant 5-inch blooms on 2-foot stems.

4. Look at the stems. Daffodils have long and slender stems. Jonquils have rounded stems, that are sort of rush-like, with a groove down the upper surface and are almost a greasy green (some might say black) in color. They begin growing from the bulb during the mild days of the fall. By spring, when the plants flower, the tips of the leaves are often damaged by harsh winter weather.

5. Look at the blooms. Here is the main thing to identifying jonquils and daffodils. Although their color and form will vary, a daffodil has one blossom to a stem. A jonquil’s bloom looks similar to a daffodil, but it has more than one blossom to the stem; sometimes two blossoms, sometimes a cluster of blossoms.