Cyclamen/Dryad's Origin

## Background

**Cyclamen** is a genus of 23 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. Cyclamen species are native to Europe and the Mediterranean Basin east to the Caucasus and Iran, with one species in Somalia. They grow from tubers and are valued for their flowers with upswept petals and variably patterned leaves.

## Description

Cyclamen have a tuber, from which the leaves, flowers and roots grow. In most species leaves come up in autumn, grow through the winter and then die in spring, then the plant goes dormant through the dry Mediterranean summer.

### Tuber

The storage organ of the cyclamen is a round tuber, which develops from the hypocotyl (the stem of a seedling). It is often mistakenly called a corm, but a corm (found in crocuses, for example) has a papery tunic and a basal plate from which the roots grow. The storage organ of the cyclamen has no papery covering and, depending on the species, roots may grow out of any part. It is therefore properly classified as a tuber (somewhat like a potato). The tuber may produce roots from the top, sides or bottom, depending on the species. Cyclamen persicum and Cyclamen coum root from the bottom; Cyclamen hederifolium roots from the top and sides. Cyclamen graecum has thick anchor roots on the bottom.

The shape of the tuber may be near spherical, as in Cyclamen coum, or flattened, as in Cyclamen hederifolium. In some older specimens of Cyclamen purpurascens and Cyclamen rohlfsianum growing points on the tuber become separated by shoulders of tissue and the tuber becomes misshapen. In most other species the tuber is round in old age.

Leaves and flowers sprout from growing points on the top of the tuber. Growing points that have lengthened and become like woody stems are known as floral trunks.

The size of the tuber varies depending on species. In Cyclamen hederifolium older tubers commonly reach 24 cm (9+1⁄2 in) across, but in Cyclamen parviflorum tubers do not grow larger than 2 cm (3⁄4 in) across.

### Leaves

Leaves sprout from growing points or floral trunks on top of the tuber. Each leaf grows on its own stem. Leaf stems in early growth may be distinguished from flower stems by the direction their tips curl: tips of leaf stems curl upwards and those of flower stems curl downwards.

The shape of the leaves varies among the species and even among different specimens of the same species. Cyclamen hederifolium and Cyclamen repandum usually have leaves shaped like ivy, with angles and lobes, Cyclamen coum has nearly round leaves and Cyclamen persicum has heart-shaped leaves with a pointed tip. The leaf margin may be smooth, as in Cyclamen coum subsp. coum, or finely toothed, as in Cyclamen graecum.

The color of the upper side of leaves is variable, even within a species. Most species have leaves variegated in several shades of green and silver, either in an irregular pattern of blotches or an arrowhead or Christmas-tree shape. In cultivation cyclamen, especially species other than Cyclamen persicum, are selected as often for striking or unusual leaf patterns as for their flowers.

The lower side of leaves is often shiny and its color varies from plain green to rich red or purple.

Most cyclamen species originate from the Mediterranean, where summers are hot and dry and winters are cool and wet, and are summer-dormant: their leaves sprout in the autumn, remain through the winter and wither the next spring. Cyclamen purpurascens and Cyclamen colchicum, however, originate from cooler regions in mountains and their leaves remain through the summer and wither only after the next year's leaves have developed.

### Flowers

Flowering time may be any month of the year, depending on the species. Cyclamen hederifolium and Cyclamen purpurascens bloom in summer and autumn, Cyclamen persicum and Cyclamen coum bloom in winter and Cyclamen repandum blooms in spring.

Each flower is on a stem coming from a growing point on the tuber. In all species the stem is normally bent 150-180° at the tip so that the nose of the flower faces downwards. Cyclamen hederifolium 'Stargazer' is an exception: its nose faces upwards. Flowers have 5 petals, bent outwards or up, sometimes twisted, and connected at the base into a cup, and five sepals behind the cup.

Petal shape varies depending on species and sometimes within the same species. Cyclamen repandum has petals much longer than wide, Cyclamen coum has stubby, almost round petals, and Cyclamen hederifolium usually has petals with proportions between the two.

Petal color may be white, pink or purple, often with darker color on the nose. Many species have a pink form and a white form but a few have only one color, such as Cyclamen balearicum, which is always white.

The dark color on the flower nose varies in shape: Cyclamen persicum has a smooth band, Cyclamen hederifolium has a streaky V and Cyclamen coum has an M-shaped splotch with two white or pink ‘eyes’ beneath.

In some species, such as Cyclamen hederifolium, the petal edges at the nose are curved outwards into auricles (Latin for ‘little ears’). Most species, such as Cyclamen persicum, have no auricles.

In most species the style protrudes 1–3 mm out of the nose of the flower but the stamens are inside the flower. In Cyclamen rohlfsianum, however, the cone of anthers sticks out prominently, about 2–3 mm (0.08–0.12 in) beyond the rim of the corolla, similar to shooting-stars (Primula sect. Dodecatheon).

### Fruit

The flower stem coils or bends when the fruit begins to form. The stems of Cyclamen hederifolium and Cyclamen coum coil starting at the end, Cyclamen persicum arches downwards but does not curl, Cyclamen rohlfsianum coils start near the tuber and Cyclamen graecum coils in both directions, starting in the middle.

The fruit is a round pod, which opens by several flaps or teeth at maturity and contains numerous sticky seeds, brown at maturity. Natural seed dispersal is by ants (myrmecochory), which eat the sticky covering and then discard the seeds.

## Habitat

Cyclamen species are native primarily to the Mediterranean region: Greece, Italy, Cypress, Crete, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel (where they are the national flower). Some species have radiated from this center of diversity north to Belarus, south to Somalia, west to Libya, Spain and France, and east to Iran.

In the wild, cyclamen grow in rocky terrain or in the leaf litter beneath trees. Although the range of many species do not overlap, I was fortunate in Crete to find both Cyclamen graecum and Cyclamen creticum growing side by side. Cyclamen are well adapted to the Mediterranean climate with its hot dry summers and cool wet winters, but most can be grown in a wide range of temperate climates as long as the summer dormant tubers remain well-drained. Dormant cyclamen are fine with summer irrigation as long as the soil is well-drained and the irrigation isn't excessive.

## Uses

### Medicine

The part of the plant used in herbal medicine is the fleshy rootstock, which is used fresh and harvested when the plant is in bloom.

Although cyclamen is currently not used much as a medicinal herb, it is known that it was used quite extensively in the past.

The root of cyclamen has a very powerful effect, and when it was used it had to be done with great care.

Despite the dangerous side effects, cyclamen was once recommended as a remedy for a variety of ailments, including eye diseases, gout, snakebites, tinnitus, menstrual pains and as a powerful laxative.

The herb has also been used against skin rash.

### Poison

The highly toxic saponin, also named cyclamin, works even in small doses to paralyze fish, and fishermen in Sicily used the root tubers to stun fish making it easy to catch them by hand.

Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) stated in his writings that the plant was used as poison applied to arrows in ancient Rome.