Family |
Primulaceae
Cyclamen persicum
Mill.
Cyclamen persicum Mill.
(First published in Gard. Dict., ed. 8: n.º 5 (1768); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3; 1983)
• Life-form & habit : Perennial tuberous geophyte; tuber rounded to flattened-globose, often partly exposed near the soil surface; plant low, producing leaves and flowers from the upper surface of the tuber.
• Leaves : Basal, long-petiolate, ovate to broadly cordate, often 5–12 cm wide; margin finely denticulate; upper surface dark green, usually marbled with pale grey or silver; lower surface green to reddish-purple.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Flowers solitary on erect scapes, usually appearing with or shortly before the leaves; corolla with strongly reflexed lobes, white to pale pink or deep rose, with a darker purplish blotch at the mouth; calyx small, 5-lobed.
• Fruit : Capsule globose, developing near the ground; fruiting pedicel bends or coils as the capsule matures; seeds numerous, brownish.
• Phenology : Flowers from October to April, with autumn and late winter to spring flowering forms; fruiting in spring.
• Habitat & elevation : Rocky slopes, open scrub, pine woodland, oak thickets and shaded limestone habitats; from sea level to c. 1200 m.
• Lebanese distribution : Widespread in coastal and lower montane Lebanon, especially in rocky scrub, pinewoods and oak woodland margins.
• Native range : Algeria, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Greece, Kriti, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Tunisia, Türkiye.
• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished from Cyclamen coum by its larger, denticulate leaves, larger flowers and generally autumn to spring flowering period; differs from C. libanoticum by its broader ecological range and usually more dentate leaf margins.