They inspired William Wordsworth to write one of the most celebrated poems in the English language.
And this year the belated blooming of a host of golden daffodils has been celebrated around the country as a sign that spring has arrived at last.
But the majority of Britain’s daffodils should be dug up and disposed of, according to one environmental campaigner.
Inspirational: The wild daffodil was glorified by Wordsworth in his 1804 poem I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud
Dr Andy Tasker says that commercially grown daffodils are replacing Britain’s native species and do not deserve their place in our affection.
In fact, he has even launched a website – www.ihatedaffodils. org.uk – to encourage people to report the locations of gaudy varieties so that the landowners can be named and shamed into removing them.
The wild daffodil, glorified by Wordsworth in his 1804 poem I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud, is Narcissus pseudonarcissus.
Its flowers are smaller and have a more subdued colour than the often garish yellows, blistering oranges, brilliant whites and flashy pinks of its big-bloomed commercial cousins.
Dr Tasker, asked on BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme on Friday if he was urging people to dig up commercial bulbs, replied: ‘If you own the land, you have the right to do that and that’s what I want people to do.
‘I hope people will get a campaign together...to remove daffodils from places where they shouldn’t be.’
Last night, he told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Some misguided individuals apparently believe it’s a good idea to plant all sorts of daffodil bulbs in places such as ancient woodlands, meadows and country lanes.
‘Well, they are wrong. They don’t look nice. It’s like putting lipstick on the Mona Lisa. Apart from the indigenous species, daffodils should be in only three places – in pots, in your garden and in Holland.’
Dr Tasker claims that daffodils which are bought from garden centres and supermarkets displace wild flowers and give the wrong impression of what the countryside should look like.
‘Sometimes people simply don’t appreciate the wild flower heritage that we already have and think a splash of colour will make it look prettier,’ he said.
‘In fact, it makes the countryside look awful. The cultivated flowers are bred to look big and gaudy for gardens, but they are popping up everywhere.
Campaign: Dr Andy Tasker says that commercially grown daffodils are replacing Britain’s native species and do not deserve their place in our affection
‘They take up space where you would expect to find native plants such as cowslips and lesser celandine, which are also yellow but smaller and much more subtle.
'Insects like these kinds of flowers and so they become part of the food chain, whereas the daffodils are just bred for size and bring no ecological benefit to other wildlife. If they weren’t there, other species would have a chance to flourish.’
Dr Tasker, who lives in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, and is a former chief executive of the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, said he had received several messages of support since setting up his website.
‘One aim of the campaign is to name and shame,’ he said. ‘We are saying, “Look, this person has trashed the environment by planting bulbs in this rural spot.” We’re highlighting the fact that it’s not the right thing to do.’
But his views were criticised yesterday by leaders of Britain’s multi-million-pound daffodil-growing industry, which is the biggest in the world.
Paul Clarke, whose company Nocton sells 5,000 tons of bulbs each year from its estates in Lincolnshire and Cornwall, said: ‘Wild daffodils are very scarce. I don’t think that this campaign will find much support.
'For the British public, the daffodil is the national flower of spring.’
James Hosking, a director of Fentongollan Farm in Truro, Cornwall, which sells ten million bulbs a year, said: ‘The cultivated varieties are more successful because they are more vigorous.
‘Not one person has ever said to me that our flowers are unsightly. The council here has planted daffodils along the dual-carriageway outside Truro. They brighten up the road and people love them.’
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