CYCLADES 



1679 



CYCLONE 



weeds in Southern Florida. The stems of some 

 cycads are like large tubers, almost or entirely 

 underground. Cycad stems store immense 

 quantities of starch, for which they are col- 

 lected in some countries for the production of 

 sago (which see). That has caused the tree to 

 be incorrectly called sago palm, but the sago 

 of commerce is obtained from a true palm. 



CYCLADES, sik'ladeez, a group of islands 

 in the Aegean Sea, southeast of Greece, to 

 which country they belong. The principal 

 islands are Andros, Paros, Naxos, Rhenea, Syra 

 and Delos, some of them famous in ancient 

 myths and story. The name is derived from 

 the Greek kyklos, meaning a circle, and was 

 given to the islands because they are supposed 

 to form a protecting circle around the sacred 

 island of Delos. The soil is naturally fertile, 

 but lack of water is a serious handicap to 

 agriculture. Fishing is the principal occupa- 

 tion of the inhabitants, though olives and 

 grapes are grown in considerable quantities. 

 The chief source of revenue lies in valuable 

 deposits of building stone, which is extensively 

 quarried. The commercial center is Hermop- 

 olis, a town with a good harbor, on the island 

 of Syra. Population of the group, 130,378. 



CYCLAMEN , sik ' la men, a genus of hand- 

 some, winter-blooming, tuberous-rooted plants 

 of the primrose family, natives of Europe and 



backward as if the flowers had been turned 

 inside out. The latter are from two to two and 

 a half inches long and droop downward on their 

 stems. The leaves are large, heart-shaped, 

 glossy and of varying tints. Although usually 

 purchased in pots already flowering, with a 

 little care the cyclamen can be raised from seed 

 in a light, rich soil. While the seeds are 

 germinating a temperature of 50 to 60 F. 

 and plenty of water are required. 



In Southern Europe the turniplike, bitter, 

 partly underground stems of the cyclamen are 

 relished by swine. 



CYCLONE, si'klohn, in physical geography, 

 is the name applied to a form of atmospheric 

 disturbance in which there is a central area 



CYCLAMEN 



Asia, but cultivated in homes and greenhouses 

 in America. The flowers are scentless, with 

 white, rose-colored or purple petals turned 



DIAGRAM OF FIELD OF ACTION 

 The solid, converging lines indicate motion of 

 the wind ; the dotted lines, the general path of 

 the storm. 



of atmospheric pressure lower than that of 

 surrounding areas, with the wind blowing spi- 

 rally around and in toward this center. Accord- 

 ing to popular usage a cyclone is a violent re- 

 volving windstorm that occurs with more or 

 less frequency in the Mississippi Valley and 

 causes great destruction of life and property, 

 but such storms are properly called tornadoes. 

 The destructive storms that periodically sweep 

 over the West Indies, known as hurricanes, 

 are sometimes called the cyclones of the trop- 

 ics. Tornadoes and hurricanes, together with 

 the whirlwind, which varies in magnitude from 

 an eddy of dust in the street to a storm as 

 violent as a tornado, are all classed as cyclonic 

 storms. The term cyclone therefore is general, 

 and a cyclonic disturbance may be a mild rain- 

 storm or a devastating gale. 



Cyclones are caused by local differences in 



