Free Vintage Daffodil Flower Drawings & Pictures In The Public Domain

Inside: A collection of stunning vintage daffodil drawings and illustrations free to print and in the Public Domain.

It won’t be long until it’s the daffodil season. In many European countries, the flowers symbolize the beginning of spring. Here is a carefully curated collection of beautiful vintage daffodil flower drawings and botanical paintings. All are free to download and print.

There are several daffodil patches in my local park. The bulbs usually start flowering at the beginning of spring in March. They are one of my favourite spring flowers, along with the gorgeous magnolia and beautiful wild bluebells on the forest floor.

Sometimes the flowers can appear as early as February. Depending on how mild or severe the winter weather has been. 

As daffodil flowers are so closely associated with spring. This explains why they are a very popular flower for Mother’s Day and Easter. Both of which fall in the spring.  (Mother’s Day in the UK is in March, not May, as in the US).

Also, the daffodil is the National flower of Wales. The fact that the Welsh National day, St David’s day, falls on the 1st of March when the daffodils are in full bloom probably has something to do with it.

Daffodils & Narcissus

These are daffodil flower drawings. However, the daffodil is the official common name for plants in the Narcissus genus. So, if the plant is considered a Narcissus, it is also considered a daffodil.

But most people use “daffodil” to refer to the familiar trumpet-shaped springtime blooms. The daffodil flower has six petal-like tepals surmounted by a cup- or trumpet-shaped corona.

There are 26 to 60 different species of wild daffodils. They grow in meadows and forests. The flower is also commercially cultivated for mainly ornamental reasons, and they are at least 13,000 different cultivated varieties of the flowers.

Daffodils develop from the bulb, which successfully stores all nutrients required to create the stem and flowers.

Spring flowering bulbs are planted in the autumn. The cold period during the winter ensures the proper development of roots. They are one of the rare species of plants that can successfully grow through the snow.

The daffodil flower, as well as being the Welsh national flower and the symbol for a 10th wedding anniversary, is a fundraising symbol for various cancer charities—mainly the  American Cancer Society in the US and Marie Curie in the UK.

To download the vintage daffodil flower drawing just click on the title above the botanical illustration you want. A higher resolution image should automatically open onto a new page in your browser. You can either save this image to your hard drive for later or to edit, or print directly from the page.

The Vintage Daffodil Flower Drawings & Illustrations

1.Bunched Flower – Narcissus

I don’t know what variety of Narcissus these daffodil flower drawings are. They are, however, from the book “Sweet-scented flowers and fragrant leaves, interesting associations gathered from many sources, with notes on their history and utility“. Published in 1895 and written by Donald McDonald.

2. Five Varieties of Cultivated Daffodils

Daffodil flower painting of five different cultivated varieties of the flower as follows:

1. Bicolour J.B.M. Camm (Trumpet)
2. Triandrius Albus (Angels Tears)
3. Leedish Duchess of Westminster
4. Inpcomparabilis Princess Mary
5. King of Spain (Trumpet)

The daffodil illustration is from the “The century supplement to the dictionary of gardening, a practical and scientific encyclopedia of horticulture for gardeners and botanists (1901)”.

3. Johannes Simon Holtzbecher Daffodil Flower Drawings

There are three varietes of daffodils and their bulbs in this botanical illustration.

1. Narcissus Tazetta – bunched flower daffodils
2. Narcissus Orientalis – Chinese Lilly
3. Narcissus bulbocodium – Peticoat Daffodil

These daffodils were painted in the late 17th Century by the German flower painter Johannes Simon Holtzbecher.

4. Spanish Daffodil Flower Drawing

This beautiful illustration of a Spanish Daffodil was by the botanist William Curtis. It was featured in the “Botanist Magazine” Volume 2 1788.

5. Jonquil and Wild Daffodils

A lovely botanical illustration of two varieties of daffodil flowers: Jonquil and wild daffodils.

The daffodil flower drawing is from the book “Favourite flowers of garden and greenhouse v.4” by William Watson, published in 1897.

6. Paperwhite Daffodils

A botanical daffodil flower drawing from “Curtis’s Botanical Magazine” 1806.

These are paperwhite daffodils; the white flowers are borne in bunches and are very fragrant. They are often grown as a house plants and forced to flower at Christmas.

7. Poets Daffodil & Wild Daffodil

A plate of a variety of flowers from the book “Hoffmann-Dennert botanical picture atlas, based on the natural plant system“.

Includes two varieties of daffodil flower drawings, one of a poet’s daffodil and a wild daffodil. The poet’s daffodil is a flower with a pretty pink ring in the centre.

8. Wild Daffodils

A wild daffodil flower painting from a book of medicinal plants from 1864.

9. Black and White Daffodil Drawings

17th Century black and white drawing of 3 daffodils from “Hortus Eystettensis”.

10. Single Daffodil

A vintage daffodil flower drawing from “The Botanical Magazine” 1791 by William Curtis.

When I think of daffodils this drawing is what I imagine, with its traditional yellow colour and trumpet-shaped flower.

11. Narcissus Compressus

Another vintage daffodil flower illustration from “Curtis’s Botanical Magazine” 1810.

12. Assorted Narcissus

A wonderful painting of a variety of Narcissus from the 1899 edition of “Birds & Nature“.

13. Currie Brothers Company – Daffodil Catolog

A vintage daffodil flower painting from a Currie Brothers Company bulb and plant catalog 1900.

You’ll find more flower catalogue illustrations with this collection of vintage chrysanthemum prints and rose gardening catalogues.

14. Three Headed Daffodil

Another vintage daffodil painting from “Curtis’s Botanical Magazine” 1806.

15. Jane Loudon’s Daffodil

This daffodil painting is from Jane Loudon’s book “The ladies’ flower-garden of bulbous ornamental plants” in 1841. You’ll find many more Jane Loudon bulbous flower prints here.

If you loved these vintage daffodil flower prints, don’t forget to check out some other floral collections on Pictureboxblue. There is a beautiful daffodil drawing in the British wild flower illustrations collection.

If you want to have ago at drawing your own bunch of daffodils for spring then check out this beginners tutorial on how to draw a daffodil.

If you have a question about yellow flowers, check out the botanical Sunflower drawings. Or if you are looking for some more romantic flowers associated with spring, such as beautiful botanical rose prints or pretty peony paintings, and these wonderful lily drawings. Not forgetting the Queen’s favourite, the Lily of the Valley.

If you are like me, not very good at identifying flowers, then you may want to download and print one of these gorgeous antique botanical posters.