The Persian or Florist's Cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum Miller) are native to the eastern Mediterranean--southern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel. But the plants are naturalized on Greek islands and along North Africa. It is thought that the cyclamen were introduced in these areas by monks or other religious orders for they are often found near old monasteries or cemeteries.

Cyclamen were known to the ancient Greeks as kyklaminos meaning circle. It is not known why the Greeks gave this name to the plants, but in most of the 20 known species, the flower scape coils downward after pollination. The ripe seed are then shed near the soil.

In the herbals, cyclamen were referred to as sow-bread or Panis porcinus; wild pigs were supposedly fond of the corms and 'rooted' them up. In Dioscorides' time (first century AD), 'ciclamino' were thought to cause pregnant women to abort if they should step over the plant, counteract any kind of poison, especially sea air, and make a man drunk if it was put in his wine. Ointments made with oil or honey were believed good to treat cataracts and weak eyesight, cleanse the skin to cure blemishes and boils, treat sunburn, and make hair grow.

John Gerard seemed caught up with more 'magical' properties of the Cyclamen. When he wrote The Herbal in 1597, he gave the medicinal uses Dioscorides recommended. But he believed the mere presence of the plant caused problems. "It is not good for women with child to touch...or come near unto it, or stride over the same where it groweth...I have...where it groweth in my garden fasten sticks in the ground, and some other sticks also cross-waies...lest any woman should by lamentable experiment find my words to be true." But Gerard also claimed that the corm, "...beaten and made up into trochisches, or little flat cakes...to be good amorous medicine to make one in love...."

This reference may have stemmed from an older belief in white witches or benevolent healers. To them, it is said the cyclamen brings happiness, was a charm against bad weather, and a gracious way to say good-bye.

To learn more about these beautiful flowers, visit the website of the Cyclamen Society in the UK:

http://www.cyclamen.org/indexCS.html