Cyclamen L.

Overview

Cyclamen belongs to the family Primulaceae; Kew gives its native range as Europe to Iran and north-eastern Somalia, and the species WCVP accepts, six of them natural hybrids, are listed below.

The florist’s cyclamen sold in winter and spring is C. persicum, which Kew records as a tuberous geophyte native from Algeria to the eastern Mediterranean, growing chiefly in the subtropical biome. University of Maryland Extension explains its habit: from the Mediterranean region, it flowers in the cool seasons and rests through dry, sweltering summers.

Classification and characters

WCVP cites Linnaeus’s Species Plantarum (1753) as the place of publication; Cyclaminus, Cyclaminum and Cyclaminos are later spellings treated as synonyms.

The RHS describes the tuber as a storage organ that carries the plant through dormancy, and divides garden cyclamen into fully hardy species for growing outdoors and borderline-hardy ones for a cool greenhouse; the hardy species mostly flower in autumn and winter. The florist’s cyclamen, C. persicum, is not hardy and is grown as an indoor pot plant.

Distribution

WCVP records the genus as native to 34 TDWG botanical regions and introduced in 6 more.

AlbaniaAlgeriaAustriaBalearesBulgariaCorseCyprusCzechia-SlovakiaEast Aegean Is.FranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIranItalyKritiKrymLebanon-SyriaLibyaMoroccoNorth CaucasusNW. Balkan Pen.PalestinePolandSardegnaSiciliaSomaliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwitzerlandTranscaucasusTunisiaTürkiyeTürkiye-in-Europe

Introduced

BelgiumGreat BritainIrelandOregonRomaniaUkraine

Accepted species

WCVP accepts 31 species; names with × are natural hybrids. The count changes with revisions; checked 2026-10-28.

Historic plates

Plates in date order; the printed names are kept as they appear, current names are on the species pages and the topic page.

• 

  Cyclamen coum

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 4 · 1787
  
• 

  Cyclamen persicum

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 44 · 1788
  
• 

  Cyclamen littorale

  Edwards's Botanical Register · 56 · 1846
  Sarah Anne Drake, G. Barclay
• 

  Cyclamen persicum

  Favourite Flowers of Garden and Greenhouse · Pl. 176 · 1897
  

Pot-plant care and safety

University of Maryland Extension advises daytime highs around 20 °C (68 °F) and nights of 10–15 °C (the fifties °F); warmer conditions shorten flowering and push the plant into dormancy. Give bright, indirect light; an east window works well. Water from the side of the pot to avoid the growing point on top of the tuber, keeping the soil damp but never soggy and watering once the surface is dry, before the plant wilts. After flowering, reduce watering and let the leaves die back, give no water for 6–8 weeks while keeping the plant cool, then resume light watering around midsummer. Getting it to flower a second time is not easy and depends on this rest.

The ASPCA lists cyclamen as toxic to dogs, cats and horses: the toxic principles are terpenoid saponins, causing salivation, vomiting and diarrhoea, and after large ingestions of tubers heart-rhythm abnormalities, seizures and death.

Further reading

• Reference library

References

1. WCVP · World Checklist of Vascular Plants (via ChecklistBank dataset 2232) · accessed 2026-10-28
2. Kew (POWO data on the ColPlanta site) · Cyclamen native range
3. Kew (POWO data on the ColPlanta site) · Cyclamen persicum native range and life form
4. University of Maryland Extension, Maryland Grows · caring for a gift cyclamen
5. RHS · Cyclamen growing guide (hardy species)
6. ASPCA Animal Poison Control · Cyclamen