CYCLAMEN Coum.
Reading edition
Round leaved Cyclamen.
Class and Order.—Pentandria Monogynia.
Syn. Cyclamen Coum. Cur. Bot. Mag. pl. 4.
— Cyclamen Coum. Hor. Kew. 1 vol. p. 311.
Root bulbous, orbicular, compressed. Leaves radical, on rather long purplish petioles, orbicular, cordate, upper side dark green, red underneath—stem radical, three or four inches high, flower terminal, drooping—calyx five segments acute—petals five, reflexed, ovate, margins undulate, dark pink, marked with red at the base, which is shaded off to a pure white, stamens five enclosed in the tube of the corolla, style longer than the stamens, stigma acute.
This pretty plant which is one of the earliest of our Spring bulbs, is a native of the south of Europe, and has been known since the year 1596, when it was cultivated by Mr. John Gerard. It is very hardy, though generally treated as a green-house or frame plant, and if grown in a sheltered situation in a mixture of bog earth, and rich loam, it will flower abundantly, and make a beautiful appearance about February, particularly if covered with a hand-glass to protect the flowers from the inclemency of the weather.
This plant is easily raised from seed, which is produced in abundance. After the petals decay the germen becomes enlarged, and the foot stalk enclosing it in the centre, twists in the form of a screw, until it reaches the ground, when the seed-vessel bursts and deposits the seed, a beautiful provision of nature for propagating the species—the seeds thus sown, will require a little more soil, and the protection of a hand-glass during the Winter, when if not destroyed by frost, the plants will generally flower the following Summer—the other hardy species are
C. hederæfolium.
———— var.
— europæum.
Pl. 9.
Plate 10. Hyoscyamus Orientalis. Drawn from Nature by M.R. Engraved by R. Havell Junr.