March birth flower tattoo ideas and meaning

Daffodil and jonquil, described properly

A daffodil flower has two parts. Behind is a flat six pointed star made of three petals and three sepals that look identical, together called tepals. In front is the corona, a fluted tube that in the wild daffodil is as long as the tepals and flares at the rim. One flower sits at the top of a hollow, flattened stem, held at an angle rather than upright, with a papery brown sheath at the base of the flower.

A jonquil is smaller in every dimension. Two to six flowers cluster at the top of one stem, each with the same six tepals but a shallow cup only a third the length. The color is a deeper yellow and the scent is strong enough to fill a room. The leaves are the clearest difference: dark green, narrow, and round in cross section, closer to chives than to the daffodil's flat blade.

How to tell an artist which one you want

• One large flower per stem, long trumpet: that is a daffodil
• Several small flowers per stem, shallow cup: that is a jonquil
• Flat strap leaves means daffodil, rounded rush leaves means jonquil
• White tepals with a yellow or orange cup is a common garden daffodil, still correct for March
• Paperwhite clusters are a different Narcissus and belong to December lists

Getting the trumpet to read at tattoo scale

Draw the flower at a three quarter angle. From that view the trumpet shows as an ellipse with a visible rim and a shadow inside, and the tepals fan out behind it, which is the shape people recognize instantly. A straight on view flattens the trumpet into a ring inside a star and loses the depth. A pure side view is elegant on a spine or an ankle but reads as an abstract cone unless the rim is drawn with a wavy edge.

A daffodil holds up better small than most spring flowers because it is built from large simple shapes. Five centimeters across the head works with a light shade inside the trumpet. Below 4 cm, drop the interior shading and keep the rim line, otherwise the trumpet fills in as a dark hole. A jonquil cluster needs more room, 8 cm or more, because three or four small cups in a bunch crowd each other quickly.

Styles the daffodil suits

Fine line botanical is the most requested and it works, especially with the flower drawn once at three quarters and a second bud on the same stem to fill the composition. American traditional daffodils exist and look good: heavy outline, two or three yellows, a black shadow inside the trumpet. The trumpet also gives black and grey work something to do, because the interior shadow is the only strong dark value in the whole flower.

Sizes and spots that work

• Single stem at three quarters, fine line, 8 to 12 cm, inner forearm
• Daffodil with a bud and two strap leaves, 12 to 18 cm, outer thigh
• American traditional daffodil head, 7 to 9 cm, upper arm
• Jonquil cluster with rush leaves, 10 to 14 cm, calf or shoulder blade
• Small side view daffodil, 5 cm, behind the ear or on the ankle

How many months fit in one piece

March is a large flower, so it sets the scale for any family group it joins. A daffodil head drawn at 5 cm forces the rest of the months to about the same visual weight, and by the time you have four flowers at that size you are looking at 20 cm of width. An inner forearm gives you roughly 18 to 22 cm of usable length, a calf gives more, and a thigh or the ribs gives you room for six.

If the set has to stay small, ask for the daffodil drawn in profile rather than face on. The side view is narrower and slots between flowers without eating the space. Another option many artists like: one shared stem with each month's flower branching off it, which keeps the piece to a single column and makes adding a fifth or sixth flower later a simple extension rather than a redraw.