Family |
Primulaceae
Cyclamen coum
Mill.
Cyclamen coum Mill.
(First published in Gard. Dict., ed. 8: n.º 6 (1768); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3; 1983)
• Life-form & habit : Perennial tuberous geophyte; tuber rounded to depressed-globose, producing leaves and flowers from the upper surface; plant low, usually forming small winter-flowering colonies.
• Leaves : Basal, long-petiolate, orbicular to broadly cordate, usually 2–6 cm wide, entire or very faintly crenulate; upper surface dark green, often marbled with pale grey or silver; lower surface commonly reddish-purple.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Flowers solitary on slender scapes, nodding before anthesis; corolla with reflexed lobes, pink to deep rose-purple, rarely white, usually with a darker blotch at the mouth; calyx small, 5-lobed.
• Fruit : Capsule globose, developing close to the ground as the pedicel coils after flowering; seeds numerous, brownish, often dispersed by ants.
• Phenology : Flowers from February to April; fruiting in spring.
• Habitat & elevation : Shaded woodland, rocky slopes, humus-rich soils under shrubs and forest margins; mainly 700–1800 m.
• Lebanese distribution : Recorded in Mount Lebanon and northern Lebanon, especially in shaded montane habitats, including cedar and mixed woodland zones.
• Native range : Bulgaria, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, South European Russia, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe.
• Introduced into : Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Romania
• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished from Cyclamen persicum by its smaller, rounded leaves, winter to early spring flowering, and tightly coiling fruiting pedicels; differs from C. libanoticum by its smaller flowers and broader natural range.