"MFPW", Thomasville, GA
Most folks don't care for paperwhites, but a few of us do. Planted in cemeteries in the coastal South, they were seen as a symbol of the Resurrection as they bloom when nothing else is in flower. They can be found planted along rural fences and lost property lines in small communities. Paperwhites are also a favorite of late season butterflies and other pollinators, providing nectar and pollen after early frosts when other flowers are scarce.
To date, a number of notable paperwhite strains have been collected (in addition to the old standby 'Paper White Grandiflorus'). Some obviously were developed for the cut flower trade, with tall stems holding large florets well above the foliage. A few seem to be just garden flowers, possibly for the indoor forcing market. One is quite a short and compact form, well suited to indoor growing.
Some floret forms are more starry while others are more round. They vary in bloom time by a few weeks, starting in early December and lasting through mid-January. Only one strain has that sharp, acrid bite to its fragrance that the traditional old paperwhite 'Paper White Grandiflorus' has. The rest are only lightly scented.
The most distinct paperwhite was collected from a late Victorian garden in north Florida, and is the least similar to the "general" paperwhite form. This was registered as 'Miss Linda', and though old it is a bit more cold tolerant than other strains.
Three or four old strains have been collected from old gardens in Natchez, Mississippi. Likely they all came from one old estate garden dating back to the 1840s. One has notably incurved petals; another seems "fluffy." A possible third exhibited corona ruffling but it seems a variable trait. One is more of a paperwhite hybrid; its corona opens slightly tinged but fades quickly. That extra dollop of non-paperwhite genetics created a notably larger floret but with the hard crystalline white only found in a paperwhite. This has been registered as 'Astrid's Winter Stars'.
Three old commercial strains have been collected from gardens in south Georgia and north Florida dating to the 1920s. The most widespread of the three was almost certainly commercially grown in north Florida (Havana and near Jacksonville). A notable Tallahassee garden designer said during her childhood in the 1940s this form was called "Snowflake." As there was a paperwhite farm in Havana, FL, this cultivar has been registered as 'Havana Snowflake'. The other two, one for the cut flower trade and the other for indoor forcing, were each collected from only a single garden in Georgia (Thomasville and Argyle).