Description

Flowers appear in autumn, in the wild from September to November, white with grey veins but there are also pale pink forms with darker pink veins, unscented. The corolla lobes are reflexed, 12-29mm long, 4-9mm wide, with pointed tips, generally 90 degrees twist, no auricles at the base and a paler zone at the nose of the flower.

Leaves appear in autumn with or after the flowers, round to kidney shaped, plain green or green centre with surrounding paler green or grey-green area or patches, underside green or slightly purplish, 1-5cm long, 1-5cm wide.

Tuber

Tuber a compressed sphere, small at maturity, up to 3.5cm diameter, brown, smooth, with fine velvety hairs, branching thin (1mm) diameter roots arise from the centre of the underside.

Distribution

Cyclamen intaminatum grows in northwest Turkey, in the provinces of Bilecik, Bursa, Eskisehir and Kutahya.

Habitat

Cyclamen intaminatum grows in an area of cooler, damper summers than typical Mediterranean, with plentiful winter rainfall (snow higher up), from 300-1800m, on humus rich clay soils, in deciduous woodland over limestone, or in mixed coniferous/deciduous woodland over sandstones and, higher up, in the open.

Cultivation

Cyclamen intaminatum is a frost hardy plant but is seldom grown in the open garden in northwest Europe due to its small size. It is most often grown in an alpine trough or as a pot plant in a cold greenhouse.