Introduction, Cultivation and Adaptability Evaluation of 20 Narcissus Cultivars

Twenty introduced Narcissus cultivars used as experimental materials were cultivated under open-field conditions in Zhoushan City, observing their phenological period, ornamental characteristics and bulb propagation, whose results were applied to carry out the adaptability evaluation of the introduced cultivars by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process（AHP）. It is found that according to the flowering period, the 20 cultivars could be divided into two groups, in which Narcissus ‘Ziva’ is the sole cultivar flowering from November to December in the autumn, germinating in the late October, withering in late May of the following year. The spring flowering group including the remaining 19 cultivars, germinate from January to February, flower from March to April, wither from May to June, with certain variability in their phenological periods. In the light of survey of ornamental traits, the 20 cultivars can be divided into 9 categories basing on the Royal Horticultural Society’s classification; most cultivars had poor bulb propagation, Narcissus ‘Julia Jane’, Narcissus ‘Hawear’, Narcissus ‘Ziva’ and Narcissus ‘Martinette’ showed higher reproduction coefficients; according to the results of AHP evaluation, the introduced Narcissus cultivars were assigned to three classes, eight of which belonged to Class I species with better overall performance, six Class II species, six Class III species. Eight Narcissus cultivars in the above discussion are recommended to be introduced and promoted in Zhoushan City.