Wild C. mirabile

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Author Message   Tim  Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 10:04 am EST :    Especially for Wilson & Berthold, but comments welcome from everyone... Most of you know that I was one of a three man team from the Cyclamen Society who went on a two week field trip to Turkey in 2003 to study C, mirabile in the wild. I have all of the collected plants in my care, and also those collected on the follow up trip in 2004 (I did not travel on that trip). The variation is impressive. Berthold, I am curious to know where you saw mirabile, and alpinum not that far away. I have seen mirabile around Lake Egirdir and alpinum there too (but not together - on opposite sides of the lake). Is this where you saw them? I have seen alpinum further southwest than that too, with mirabile not too far away either. I can't remember exactly where that was though. i would have to look at my notes. Tim - Cambridgeshire, Zone "7 "   Carol23  Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 10:19 am EST :    Each and every one of those leaf forms is beautiful, Tim! Number four is certainly unusual. Have these flowered for you? THe last one has such an exquisite contrast in the pattern! Beautiful! Carol23 - Southeastern PA, Zone "6B"   Tim  Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 10:23 am EST :    Hi Carol, I thought that number four would get a comment first. Yeah, they have all flowered here. I took the plants into my care last autumn when they were in full flower. I re-potted all of them (probably 100 or so in total) this summer and they flowered as usual. Some are still flowering, but are past their best now. Tim - Cambridgeshire, Zone "7 "   Carol23  Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 10:32 am EST :    Tim, it's almost like a teardrop center. I feel I need to see it closer! Carol23 - Southeastern PA, Zone "6B"   Tim  Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 10:39 am EST :    If it wasn't dark outside, I would go and take another photo for you! This plant was collected on the second mirabile trip in 2004. Below is a photo taken today of a pure white flowered form of C. mirabile. Brian Mathew found this plant at the Lake Egirdir site on the penultimate day of our trip. I remember that we were looking at the thousands of plants there, and when I looked up I saw Brian sitting on a rock, arms folded looking extremely pleased with himself - of course he was, he had found a pure white flowered mirabile. It was fitting that such an esteemed botanist should find it. I've been keeping this plant in isolation in the hope of preventing cross pollination with normal pink flowered forms of the species. Tim - Cambridgeshire, Zone "7 "   Carol23  Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 10:47 am EST :    Wow, what a plant! Doesn't it always seem something exceptional happens during the last day? Remember your hellebore trip when you found a new population on the way to the airport? Thanks for sharing the excitement! Carol23 - Southeastern PA, Zone "6B"   Tim  Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 11:32 am EST :    I do remember it, Carol. I remember Susan standing in the middle of the road to flag down Will, Judith & Dick and Cole too! I had driven past that site sooo many times previously too, but during June when the grass was too long to see the hellebores Tim - Cambridgeshire, Zone "7 "   Galanthophile  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 12:42 pm EST :    Wow, these are all superb forms. How exciting to be a plant hunter! Galanthophile - Ann (Northern England), Zone "8"   Berthold  Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 01:33 pm EST :    Hello Tim, in the Turkey collection of your mirabile you have toothed and not toothed margin leaves. So, this item doesn't seem to be very specific for mirabile. I found mirabile and alpinum much more south-west about 30 km from the coast line. Mirabile in a sandy loam without any organic components beside little bushes in an open sheep lawn. In a local document mirabile was also reported for the pennisula of Bodrum but I couldn't confirm after only extensive exploration. Berthold Berthold - NRW, Germany, Zone "8a"   Terryk  My Weather My Garden My Time Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 01:38 pm EST :    This is such a nice species. It has such great patterns and shape. To have them all in your glasshouse must be such a treat. The one with the white flowers has a nice leaf pattern too. Thanks for sharing the pictures Tim. Terryk - NY, Zone "6"   Geoforce  My Weather Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 07:22 pm EST :    My tastes are less cultivated and more plebeian. I prefer the more subtle contrast and wonderful symmetry of the plant in photo 7. Geoforce - Pennsylvania, Zone "USDA 7a"   Matthias  Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 01:56 am EST :    Very nice leaves, Tim. I would chose number 8, but also 4 and 6 seem to be unusual. Overall leaf pattern variability seems to be smaller than with purpurascens and hederifolium; would you agree, Tim? Matthias - Southern Germany, Zone "7"   Tim  Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 02:36 pm EST :    Berthold, the Lake Egirdir population as you probably know is an outlying population a long way east of where C. mirabile is more commonly found.We spent most of our time much further southwest than the lake. We saw C. alpinum in the Mugla area. I wonder if the small bushes you saw were Quercus coccifera? This species of Quercus was present at every one of the several dozen sites we found. They are nearly always kept quite small because of the constant grazing. It looks likely that the grazing of the Quercus is benefical to the cyclamen and that if they were allowed to get to full size, the cyclamen would get crowded out and conditions would eventually become too dry. Matthias, the plant in photo 4 is very unusual and I like it a lot. I also find the plant in photo 5 attractive too; not only does it have a good pattern, it has strongly scalloped leaves too. I do agree, Matthias; the foliage of hederifolium is certainly much more variable than that of mirabile. Purpurascens less so than hederifolium, but more than mirabile. C. hederifolium seems to me to be blatantly variable, but as with purpurascens, I have to really look at mirabile to appreciate the differences sometimes, which I like doing as it allows me to interact with the plants rather than just viewing from afar. Tim - Cambridgeshire, Zone "7 "   Treelover  My Favorite Photo My Garden Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 - 06:41 pm EST :    Lovely leaves, they almost look like those of my Ceropegia woodii! Treelover - County Durham, Zone "8/9"   Carol23  Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 - 10:15 am EST :    Larry, you have aroused my curiosity. Here's a comparison of seedling mirabile leaves with Ceropegia woodii. Had the Cyclamen been mature, the leaves would be much larger. Carol23 - Southeastern PA, Zone "6B"

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