Cyclamen graecum

Cyclamen graecum, the Greek cyclamen,[1] is a perennial plant in the flowering plant family Primulaceae that grows from a tuber. It is native to southern Greece, southern Turkey and neighboring islands and is prized for its variable leaf forms, which include some of the most striking of any cyclamen.

Cyclamen graecum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Asterids
Order:
Ericales
Family:
Primulaceae
Genus:
Cyclamen
Subgenus:
Cyclamen
Series:
Persicum
Binomial name
Cyclamen graecum

Distribution

Cyclamen graecum is native to a wide variety of areas up to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) elevation in southern mainland Greece, the Peloponnese, Aegean Islands, Crete, the southern coast of Turkey, and northern Cyprus.

Description
At Osaka Prefectural Flower Garden, Osaka, Japan

The tuber is corky, with thick, strong, fleshy anchor roots sprouting from the center of the bottom.

Leaves are heart-shaped and toothed.

Flowers bloom in autumn and have 5 petals, white or pink with a darker blotch at the nose. They are often fragrant. The bases of the petals are curled outwards into auricles, like Cyclamen hederifolium.

After pollination, the flower stem coils both directions, starting from the center, not from the top as in Cyclamen hederifolium.

Subdivisions

Subspecies

Cyclamen graecum has three subspecies, distinguished by flower characteristics:

  • Cyclamen graecum subsp. graecum — pink flowers with a darker blotch at the nose (Greece, Aegean islands, Crete)
    • Cyclamen graecum subsp. graecum f. album — all-white flowers (Peloponnese, Rhodopou Peninsula of Crete)
  • Cyclamen graecum subsp. anatolicum Ietsw. — more slender flowers with a smaller blotch and slight auricles (southern Turkey, Rhodes, northern Cyprus). Now elevated to a separate species, Cyclamen maritimum.[2]
  • Cyclamen graecum subsp. mindleri Hildebr. (or candicum Ietsw.) white or pale pink flowers with more pronounced auricles (western Crete)

References
  1. "BSBI List 2007". Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 25 January 2015. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  2. "Cyclamen maritimum". Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
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