SPECIES DESCRIPTION

CYCLAMEN HEDERIFOLIUM

Including:- Cyclamen confusum

Family and Genus:- See- PRIMULACEAE

Common Names:- Ivy-leaved Cyclamen

Homotypic Synonyms:- C. neapolitanum

Meaning:- Cyclemen (Gr) Circle a name used by the Greek philosopher
Theophrastus for the coiled fruiting stalk.
                  Hederifolium (L) Having leaves similar to those Hedera i.e. ivy-like  

Tuber:-
1) Depressed-globose, up to 10(-25) cm, Æ, corky, with roots both from the sides
    and base.

Leaves:-
1) Usually developing at the same time as the flowers.
2) Leaf blade, 4-10 cm, ± ovate with a cordate base and a few shallow, angular
    lobes, dark green, usually greyish- or silvery-marbled in very variable patterns.
3) Pedicels, slender, generally 10-20 cm.

Flower:-
1) Corolla, pink to purplish-pink, with dark purple bifurcate blotches at the throat.
   a) lobes, auriculate at the base, 15-20 mm, oblong-obovate, often somewhat
        twisted.
2) Style, scarcely exserted

Fruit:-
1) Fruiting pedicel, coiling from the apex.
2) Capsule, ripening in the following summer.

Key features:-
1) Leaves, often distinctly angled or lobed.
2) Corolla-lobes, auriculate at the base.
3) Fruiting pedicel, coiling from the apex
4) Mouth of the corolla comparatively narrow.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Damp scrub and open woodland, generally in semi-shade 0-1300 m

Distribution:- Almost throughout Greece, much of the Pindos and the far NE - Mediterranean region from S France to w & SW Anatolia. On Crete currently known only from the western, in two valleys and is most abundant from Topolia southwards.

Flowering time:- Aug-Nov

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