Authors:
Leaves 3-16cm long by 1mm wide, striate, green, erect. Stem round, to 9cm tall. Pedicel 5mm long. Flowers solitary, ascending, 2.2cm in diameter, pale to medium yellow, tube pale green, 2cm long, tepals spreading, narrow, same length as corona, the latter 1.2cm high by 15-20mm diameter, crenate. Anthers included, style exserted, the filaments and style yellow, winter to spring. Calcareous mountain slopes or under trees. Middle Atlas, Morocco. N.r. var. rifanus is similar, but with petals usually longer than corona. Green-brown edges to tip of spathe on mature flowers. Rif, Morocco. N.r. var. mesatlanticus as seen in cultivation is essentially a pale yellow-flowered romieuxii at the upper end of the size range. In the wild can be somewhat larger with quite deep yellow flowers. N.r. subsp. albidus was described by Maire from the Rif, but not positively identified from that area. Said to have whitish yellow flowers or white with greenish yellow shading. Plants from southwestern middle Atlas nearly fit the description, but flowers are white. N.r. subsp. albidus var. zaianicus from the Zaian Mountains is similar to N. romieuxii with flowers varying from white to pale primrose and coronas of variable shape. Some plants from the Middle Atlas seem indistinguishable.
Plant Portrait: Narcissus romieuxii
Joint Rock: Joint Rock Awards, Loughborough, 6 March 2010
