code: 526
It has been given the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit
Family: Primulaceae
Common name: False Iberian cyclamen, Cyclamen pseudoibericum
Plant Classification: Hardy perennial
Minimum Height: 10 cm
Maximum Height: 15 cm
Packet Content(approx.): 10
Native to the Turkish mountains, this small plant is similar to Cyclamen coum, but has longer petals. The spring-blooming flowers have five reflexed, up-swept petals, and are fragrant and magenta-purple or pink, and have a darker blotch and a white zone at the end of the nose and is hardy to -15 C.
Sowing advice:
Seeds should be sown at any time, and as soon as possible after you have received them. Sow the seeds thinly onto a gritty, loamy compost and cover about 6mm or 1/4-inch-deep as light can inhibit germination. Keep at between 10 and 15 degrees C. Germination can take from one to twelve months and is generally erratic, a strategy that has evolved to protect the strain in the wild. Pot on into a low-organic content compost.
Habitat:
Cyclamen pseudibericum grows in moist deciduous woodland of oak, beech and hop-hornbeam, occasionally open pine forest or among shaded rocks, from 500-1650m, in an area with higher rainfall than the surrounding areas of Turkey and Syria which restricts its distribution. It grows on limestone, schist and sandstone rocks, generally on mineral soils often rich in organic matter and covered with a deep layer of moisture retentive leaf mould.
Cultivation:
Cyclamen pseudibericum is hardy but tends to be cultivated as a pot plant in a cool greenhouse in northwest Europe, rather than in the garden, because it is not as widely available as C. coum and C. hederifolium. The area of distribution has a moister summer than is usual for the Mediterranean, so cultivated plants may grow better if not allowed to fully dry out during the summer.
