Daffodil

Persistent, spasmodic, unproductive cough with tenacious mucus, as used by nineteenth century Eclectic physicians with the fresh flowering bulb tincture

Chronic bronchial catarrh that had failed to respond to gentler expectorants, in the older Eclectic literature

Overview. Narcissus is a genus of bulbous spring-flowering plants in the amaryllis family, native to Europe and North Africa and widely cultivated worldwide as an ornamental, of which the common daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) is the species most referenced in older medical writing. The bulb and, less often, the flowers were the parts historically used, mainly as an emetic and expectorant. Its main modern significance is as a natural source of the alkaloid galantamine, now manufactured as a licensed pharmaceutical rather than dispensed as a crude herbal preparation.

Clinical Notes. Narcissus has almost no place in contemporary herbal practice. Nineteenth century Eclectic physicians used small doses of the fresh bulb tincture for spasmodic, whooping type coughs and for chronic bronchial catarrh that resisted other expectorants, but the margin between an emetic dose and a therapeutic one was narrow and the herb fell out of use as safer expectorants became available.