Photo: Hanay, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Persian Cyclamen
Cyclamen persicum
Also known as Florist's Cyclamen, Sowbread, Persian Violet (informal, though unrelated to true violets)
Key benefits
✦Traditional uses
✦Long before it became a florist's favorite, Cyclamen persicum grew wild on stony Mediterranean slopes, where its marbled leaves and swept-back petals earned it a reputation as one of the woodland's small miracles, a flower that seemed to bloom straight out of bare winter ground. Country folk in parts of Europe and the Near East called the wild tubers of related cyclamen species sowbread, because pigs would root them up and eat them, and old herbals occasionally mention the crushed corm being used externally or as a folk purgative. That history is worth knowing, but it was never a gentle tradition, the tuber's bite was harsh and unpredictable, and this plant settled instead into the role it plays best today, as a cherished ornamental rather than a medicine cabinet herb. Its real legacy is horticultural, a wildflower of Greek and Levantine hillsides bred over centuries into the ruffled, jewel-toned houseplant found on porches and windowsills every winter.
How to grow & use it
✦The full apothecary for Persian Cyclamen
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- ✦Remedies & preparations
- ✦ Growing guide
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- ✦Hellebore
- ✦Primrose
- ✦Wood violet
- ✦Hellebore for shaded winter color
- ✦Primrose for a similarly cool-season windowsill bloom
“You want a little flame of color on a windowsill in the gray heart of winter, not a leaf to steep.”
Wild pigs have such a fondness for digging up and eating cyclamen tubers that several wild cyclamen species carry the old country nickname sowbread, even though the corm is actually toxic to most other animals and to people.
Every part of Cyclamen persicum, especially the corm, or tuber, contains triterpenoid saponins, including a compound called cyclamin, that are toxic if eaten. Ingestion can cause vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and drooling, and eating a significant amount of the tuber has been linked to more severe effects, including seizures and heart rhythm disturbances, particularly in children and pets. Cats and dogs are especially drawn to dig up and chew the corms, so keep potted plants well out of reach. The sap can also irritate skin on contact for some people. This plant should never be eaten or made into a tea or tincture, it is grown purely for its beauty. If ingestion is suspected, contact a poison control center or veterinarian right away, and speak with a qualified healthcare professional or veterinarian for any concerns.