CYCLAMENS

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22767, 20 July 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

CYCLAMENS

The cyclamen is a flower of bewitching beauty of form and of colour. ‘ The hothouse varieties, which are quite happy on a window sill in any home, are among the bright spots of winter. They are extremely interesting plants to grow, as they have their little oddities. When put to bed, they object to being covered with a

blanket of earth, which is the reason ■ why we see the round_ plump corm lying on top of the soil in the, pot. The manner in which the leaves and flower stems arise from the corm is interesting, too. Cyclamen flowers have great value for decoration, not only for their beauty, but also because of their lasting qualities in water. It is possible \to keep them fresh for several weeks. There are few flowets of more exquisite tones of colour, the white, the pink, and the true “cyclamen” shade being absolutely true and pure. The reflexed petals look like wings, as if the flowers were poised for flight. It is quite possible that the name cyclamen was derived from the characteristic and unusual manner of the seeding device. Here is a description written by a keen observer of flowers —“Cyclamens have a curious way of seeding. The stem curls up like a spring with the adder-head shaped seed-vessel in the centre. The adder-head seedpod has a tiny protuberance at the point that resembles the tongue of an adder. By means of the stem coiling round, the seed-pod is brought in contact with the ground, and when a suitable time arrives the seeds are dispersed. The plants flower in the second year from seed, if carefully attended to. They like leaf-mould, lime, I° ar n, , rather coarse sand, and a half-shady position.” This strange habit of coiling the stem was believed by Darwin to be a device of the plant to protect the seed from the sun- ■ Cyclamens were given another common name, sowbread, _ the only apparent explanation being mat sows would eat the plant when it was growing wild —for cyclamens do grow wild in certain countries, not the form which we grow m hothouses, but little brothers. ofit, about the size of large violets. The colours are similar, and they are altogether lovely, and usually grown in rock gardens, because of their diminutive stature. s 9 flower in autumn, others m i®te winter and early spring. They spread quickly if they are given a chalky or limey diet. A flourishing group of these hardy cyclamens in bloom is beautiful to see. The leaves of some varieties, though so small, are exquisitely marbled.

(By Winifred Chapman)

They grow wild in woods and on. hills in countries of Europe, such as Greece and Italy, and in Asia Minor. The following sentence describes how someone saw them growing on the hills near Nazareth in Palestine. “In Palestine in spring the hills and rocks have thousands of little cyclamens about them. In particular, I found them

growing along the railway line as it winds up Judean hills to Jerusalem, and again at Nazareth, sheltering under any little rock or stone by the wayside.”