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Matthias
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - 06:30 am EST : |   
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Hi cyclamen afficionados! What terrific photos of wonderful cyclamen leaves have been published here in the short time I was away in Italy ... yes Terry I stay home sometimes :-) visiting some sites of wild C. hederifolium.
Here is a first bunch of photos I have taken in a very dark wooded gully, that was moist enough for first leaves. Most cyclamen were in full flower and only about 5% of all plants had some first developing leaves.
Matthias
- Southern Germany,
Zone "7"
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Matthias
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - 06:37 am EST : |
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C. hederifolium flowers:
White flowers are very rare.
Matthias
- Southern Germany,
Zone "7"
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Terryk
My Weather
My Garden
My Time
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - 08:55 am EST : |
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Matthias, I am glad to see the cost of petrol is not completely bringing your travels to a halt. Your c. hederifolium leaves are wonderful, I especially like 2 & 3. How lucky you were to get to see the one with white flowers, I have just planted a bed (approx. 100 plants) of c. hederifolium which are supposed to be white flowers, time will tell..
Terryk
- NY,
Zone "6"
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Tim
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - 11:09 am EST : |
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Very nice photos, Matthias. I'm wondering - are the tubers in photos 4 & 5 exposed? I ask because the flowers are rising straight out of the top of the tuber. When the tuber of hederifolium is below the surface, the flower stalks usually creep before breaking the soil surface, resulting in a less compact plant.
And roughly how many plants per square metre in this colony? Is the white flowered plant in the last photo the only one you found in this colony? Looking forward to seeing the rest of your photos.
Tim
- Cambridgeshire,
Zone "7 "
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Matthias
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - 11:48 am EST : |
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Terry, I´d rather starve than reduce travelling :-) For me white is the best colour for autumn flowers - it can really brighten dark days.
Tim, you are right, the tubers in that moist gully are mostly exposed, maybe because the soil is heavy and wet in winter. There are plenty of wild boars around and many very large tubers (up to 30 cm diametre) are uprooted; most are dead, others throw new roots and grow on. The plants in the photos are undisturbed.
In this colony the plants are scattered, maybe 4 plants per square metre. But outside the woods along the drier roadsides and on the rocky embankments they are ground cover with hundreds of small plants per square metre. Apart from tiny seedlings these plants along the dry roadsides were in full flower without any leaves.
This was not the only white one we saw. There was a group of 5 very good white ones in a different site. I have no photo of these because there was too much electricity and very heavy rain in the air ... so we had to run for shelter.
The next photo demonstrates a small detail of such a roadside situation.
Some more leaves.
Matthias
- Southern Germany,
Zone "7"
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Matthias
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - 12:06 pm EST : |
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This photo may give you a better idea of the situation in that gully: dark, moist and a perfect microclimate both for cyclamen and hellebores. Here you see Helleborus liguricus at this time of the year. The first flowers will open around Christmas. There are Cyclamen everywhere.
Matthias
- Southern Germany,
Zone "7"
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Tim
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - 12:16 pm EST : |
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The leaf pattern in photo number two is superb. Did you find any totally silver leaved plants? I'm wondering how rare/common they are in the wild (or at least in that part of Italy).
A friend spent some time in Croatia earlier on in the year and saw C. hederifolium around Split. I've not seen it in Croatia, but I've never been further south than Knin. Either it doesn't grow around the parts of Croatia I've been to (which is quite a bit of it), or I've simply missed it!
Tim
- Cambridgeshire,
Zone "7 "
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Matthias
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - 12:46 pm EST : |
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Tim, that leaf pattern is not bad for that area, but I have seen much, much better ones. We have seen no totally silver leaved plants, but fantastic patterns with lots of silver plus 4 different shades of green in the same leaf. One plant had a dark bluegreen heart and a very wide silver egde around. And remember, only about 5% of all plants had leaves - the rest will have to be revisited later on in the year ...
Your friend is right: Here is a photo of C. hederifolium with true Helleborus multifidus 10 kilometres east of Split in Croatia. I took this photo in March 2002. Further north I have only seen C. purpurascens.
Matthias
- Southern Germany,
Zone "7"
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Terryk
My Weather
My Garden
My Time
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - 04:08 pm EST : |
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We will all chip in for the petrol so you can go back! Hopefully you will be able to collect some seed of these wonderful treasures. Tim, do I see you packing your bags for a trip?
Terryk
- NY,
Zone "6"
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Jgwoodard
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - 05:19 pm EST : |
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A published photo of liguricus, and right here in the cyclamen forum! I knew it was worth it to stop in here. :) Nice photos as always Matthias.
Jgwoodard
- TN,
Zone "6b"
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Galanthophile
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Thursday, October 06, 2005 - 09:18 am EST : |
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How amazing to see these in the wild - great photos - thanks so much Matthias.
Galanthophile
- Ann (Northern England),
Zone "8"
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Carol23
| | Posted on Thursday, October 06, 2005 - 09:45 am EST : |
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This is a treat to behold! To me each leaf is like a stained glass window with its own unique pattern.
That hellebore is exquisite! I'm definitely into foliage.
Carol23
- Southeastern PA,
Zone "6B"
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