A pretty flower named after a pretty boy.

After yesterday's dramatic seascape something a little more tranquil today, a Narcissus variety Paperwhite.

There are two explanations for how this little daffodil got its name. The first is that it was named after the mythological Greek youth Narcissus, who was became so obsessed with his own reflection in a pool of water that he fell in and drowned. A Narcissus plant sprang from where he died.

Alternatively, the plant may have been named because of its narcotic properties, due the alkaloid poison lycorine present in the bulb and leaves; in Greek narkao means "I grow numb". One of my childhood neighbours was still suffering intestinal problems in the 1950s as a result of being fed daffodil bulbs whilst a prisoner of the Germans in the First World War.

Given either origin of the name it is a bit of a mystery to me as to why six ships of the Royal Navy were named HMS Narcissus beteeen 1781 and 1941!