Cyclamen 2014

[johnstephen29]

Nice one Pat

[Melvyn Jope]

Haha! Like that Pat, but then I do like both Stargazer and marmite!

[Graeme]

I recently bought three 'cyclamen coum silver leaf' from Eurobulbs and wasn't expecting too much as they only cost £5.50 for the three.  Two of the plants look normal, but on the third all the flowers are weird and look as though they have been ironed!  It has been in flower for two months already and is quite attractive.  Is it something to be kept and loved, or is it suffering from a disease and should be destroyed before it infects all my other cyclamen?

I have a white one with a pink nose that does the same every year - mine has probably got some C. alpinum mixed in somewhere

Yours is a nice plant - it will be interesting to see if it produces any viable seed 

[MargaretB]

Thanks Steve, Maggi and Graeme for the comments, they have earned a reprieve for my plant and I will see if it produces any seed.  In view of the very early flowering I had suspected it may be a hybrid, I think at Eurobulbs they grow everything together in fields and left to their own devices, so anything could happen.
To add to the Marmite v Stargazer survey, give me Marmite any time.  I still fondly recall my schoolfriends' reactions when I took Marmite and cucumber sandwiches to school, even if I started out with white bread it was very brown by lunch time!

[Mark Griffiths]

any one tried stargazer dipped in marmite? on toast? mmmm

[johnralphcarpenter]

Cyclamen coum in the garden today - probably the earliest it has flowered here. This is a self-seeded plant.

[Roma]

Cyclamen alpinum and Cyclamen coum - there are three plants in the pot

[SJW]

There's some really interesting articles in the latest Cyclamen Society journal (so if you are reading this, Martyn, congratulations on an excellent issue). There's a report on the 2014 Lebanon field study that covers C. persicum and C. coum (C. libanoticum was covered in the June issue); reports of C. repandum on Corfu; a fascinating account of fasciation - not easy to say after a few drinks - in C. cilicium by Mike Brown concerning their plant that won a Farrer Medal in 2009 (while it was clearly a very vigorous clone, their cultivation techniques may have had something to do with the stunning quantity of flowers this prize winning plant produced); and the latest research on C. graecum using DNA analysis.

The latter may elicit a groan from the clumpers and traditionalists because, based on the latest DNA analyses involving a range of plants from the three sub species, the researchers are now proposing to raise C. graecum ssp anatolicum to species level. So the C. graecum group would comprise of two species: C. graeum (ssp graecum and ssp candicum) and C. maritimum (formerly ssp anatolicum). C. maritimum (Hildebrand 1908) is the earliest name available at species level for what is currently called C. graeum ssp anatolicum so no new names are required.

The researchers point out that the split between C. graecum ssp graecum and C. graecum ssp anatolicum (2.9 to 3.4 million years ago) is older than the average speciation age of 2.3 million years for the genus Cyclamen so it would be entirely consistent to treat C. graecum ssp anatolicum as a species rather than a subspecies. All seems pretty logical and straightforward to me.

I'm really happy to be a member of a relatively small society that supports and contributes, through field work and providing plant samples, to this sort of horticultural research. All this plus two journals, a seed exchange and four shows annually. And for a tenner a year where else can you get so much stimulation? Apart, perhaps, from hanging around behind Manchester Piccadilly station - but there's far less risk of getting arrested!

[johnstephen29]

Hi Steve I recieved my copy yesterday and had a quick flick throught it, it seemed a lot thicker than usual. i' ll get the kettle on and settle down for a nice read with a cuppa.

[fermi de Sousa]

..... the researchers are now proposing to raise C. graecum ssp anatolicum to species level. So the C. graecum group would comprise of two species: C. graeum (ssp graecum and ssp candicum) and C. maritimum (formerly ssp anatolicum). C. maritimum (Hildebrand 1908) is the earliest name available at species level for what is currently called C. graeum ssp anatolicum so no new names are required.

Good news for "Splitters" but not good news for us in Australia (or New Zealand, I suspect)!
As Cyclamen maritimum is not currently on "ICON" as an allowed species any seed of it sent here will be confiscated and destroyed. Name changes aren't automatically accepted onto ICON and though in the past we would be informed if an item was seized and if we could show them that it was previously allowed in under an earlier name or synonym we would be allowed it, sadly this is not the case any more.
cheers (?)
fermi

[Tony Willis]

I can see the reasonong behind this split but what a completely inapropriate name!

[johnstephen29]

Hi tony I know what you mean I prefer anatolicum, but there you go.

[johnstephen29]

Here is a persicum var autumnale starting to flower with plenty of buds to come, will look great over Christmas.


Cyclamen Persicum var Autumnale by johnstephen29, on Flickr


Cyclamen Persicum var Autumnale by johnstephen29, on Flickr