Cyclamen – Cyclamen persicum and C. spp.

Common Name: Cyclamen

Botanical Name: Cyclamen persicum and C. spp., SICK-la-men or SYE-kla-men

Flower Color: Pink, Purple, Red, White

Availability: Winter, Year Round

Flowers should be harvested in the bud stage, namely, when they are showing color but still facing in a downward position.

• Member of the Primulaceae (primrose) family.
• Native to Central Europe.
• Common relatives include oxlip, primrose and purple loosestrife.

• Flowers are solitary, at the ends of leafless stems. Petals are strongly reflexed.
• Leaves are kidney-shaped, thick and fleshy.

Can be stored at 33-35F for one week but if pulsed as described above, 3 weeks of storage is possible.

• The specific epithet name “persicum” probably means of Persia. This ties in with one use of this plant as a Christmas plant in Germany.
• Cyclamen, from the Greek “kyklos” (circular), referring to the spiraling of the peduncle (flower stem) after flowering in some species.