Happy the Year of Water Rabbit! Β Or as I would say in a more traditional Cantonese greeting,Β Gong Hei Fat Choi ζεηΌθ²‘Β (“Congratulations and be prosperous” [1]). Β Since it is the beginning of a new lunar year, I would like to tell you about a poisonous plant traditionally seen during Chinese New Year.
Growing up in Hong Kong, one of my favorite memories of Chinese New Year is the scent of this tall, white flower with bright yellow corona. Β NarcissusΒ tazetta, commonly known as paperwhite, bunch-flowered narcissus, bunch-flowered daffodil,Β ChineseΒ sacredΒ lily, cream narcissus, joss flower, polyanthus narcissus. Β Specifically I’m talking aboutΒ N. tazetta subsp. chinensisΒ (M.Roem.), known asΒ ζ°΄δ»Β ShuiΒ XianΒ orΒ Shui-hsien, which is the species that has been cultivated in China for more than a thousand years. Β ζ°΄δ» literally means “water (ζ°΄) nymph (δ»)”.
