Greek Cyclamen

Appearance

The tuber is corky, with thick, strong, fleshy anchor roots sprouting from the center of the bottom.

Leaves are heart-shaped and toothed.

Flowers bloom in autumn and have 5 petals, white or pink with a darker blotch at the nose. They are often fragrant. The bases of the petals are curled outwards into auricles, like "Cyclamen hederifolium".

After pollination, the flower stem coils both directions, starting from the center, not from the top as in "Cyclamen hederifolium".

Naming

"Cyclamen graecum" has three subspecies, distinguished by flower characteristics:
⤷ "Cyclamen graecum" subsp. "graecum" — pink flowers with a darker blotch at the nose
⤷ *"Cyclamen graecum" subsp. "graecum" f. "album" — all-white flowers
⤷ "Cyclamen graecum" subsp. "anatolicum" Ietsw. — more slender flowers with a smaller blotch and slight auricles. Now elevated to a separate species, "Cyclamen maritimum".
⤷ "Cyclamen graecum" subsp. "mindleri" Hildebr. white or pale pink flowers with more pronounced auricles

Distribution

"Cyclamen graecum" is native to a wide variety of areas up to 1,200 m elevation in southern mainland Greece, the Peloponnese, Aegean Islands, Crete, the southern coast of Turkey, and northern Cyprus.