172 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 29, 1878. 
their measurements, some being wide and flat and others com- 
paratively long and thin. All, however, are alike in their 
disposition to get on the surface of the soil. 
Drainage, of course, is very important with plants which 
have to remain a long time in one pot; but I never place a 
great deal ofjit at the bottom, preferring rather to use lumps 
of charcoal or something equally lasting mixed with the soil 
throughout. 
The plants flower in a warm greenhouse in March and April, 
and may be had all through the winter from November with 
a little more heat, but they are not then so good as they are 
if allowed to come on more naturally and flower in the spring. 
—WILLIAM TAYLOR. 
ON THE CYCLAMEN. 
[By S. JENNINGS, F.L.S. Read at a Meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, and extracted from the last issue of the Society’s Journal. The 
first portion of Mr. Jennings’s paper appears on page 285, of vol. xxxiv.] 
Ill. C. verNuM.—As its name indicates, a spring-flowering 
species, in bloom during March and April. There is much con- 
troversy as to the identity of this plant, arising from mistakes, 
afterwards corrected, made by early authorities; so much so 
that in some catalogues a distinction is drawn between the true 
vernum and the vernum of Sweet, which, as I have already 
pointed out, is really ibericum, a winter-flowering species, and 
in support of this statement I quote Mr. Atkins. Writing to 
me, he says: “See ‘ Bot. Mag.,’ t. 1001, figured as hederzefolium ; 
this is the true vernum, called repandum in the ‘ Flower Gar- 
den,’ and various other names here and abroad. The name 
repandum does not appear to have been used before Sibthorp, 
who associated the plant he thus names with Clusius’ Cyclamen 
wverno tempore florens.” 
On the other hand, Colonel Trevor,Clarke, a botanist whose 
opinion is entitled to the utmost respect, writes thus to me :— 
“The plant that occupied the name of vernum for many years 
was scarcely distinguishable from Coum, except by the leaf. I 
think it was a pity to disturb repandum, which was already 
muddled up with the autumnal hederzfolium, whilst the latter 
was confused with the summer-flowering europzeum.” 
The flowers of C. vernum are very fragrant, in colour bright 
rosy purple, less frequently light rose, rarely white. Leaves 
broad, angular, and deeply lobed; the upper surface bright 
green, shining, and broadly marbled with silvery bands. Corm 
smooth, dark yellow, the roots proceeding from the centre of 
the under side of tuber. 
M. Tyerman: remarks :—“ This interesting species is quite 
distinct from any other. The leaves and flowers somewhat 
resemble those of hederzfolium, but the flowers are longer, 
more slender, and destitute of the teeth-like projections formed 
‘by the reflexed segments of the corolla.” The flowers and 
leaves are produced at the same time. This species is a native 
of Greece and Italy. 
{Nore.—Since writing the above I haye prosecuted my in- 
quiries amongst the great Cyclamen growers on the Continent, 
who, while freely admitting the inaccurate nomenclature 
which holds amongst them, explain that it would be almost 
impossible to adopt the more strictly correct names, as the 
former are now so generally used that the utmost confusion 
would ensue on any attempt to effect a correction. 
As regards repandum, however, it would seem that the 
weight of continental evidence is to the effect that the irre- 
gularity of the growth of the root and leaves from the corm 
noticed by me on page 79, together with an irregularity in the 
form of the segments of the corolla, are distinctive features of 
this species, which I am assured are constant. If this be so it 
would certainly justify specific distinction between vernum and 
repandum. | 
IV. C. EUROPAUM.—Figured in Sweet, p. 176. A summer- 
‘flowering species, blooming from June to September, or even 
later. In cultivation this plant is by no means a free bloomer, 
but it is valuable as one of the most delightfully scented of all 
the Cyclamens. It is very distinct both in form and habit, 
and there should be no great difficulty in recognising it. The 
flowers vary in colour from a pale pink to a deep carmine ; the 
mouth of the corona is wide and slightly angular. Leaves 
orbicular or reniform, somewhat denticulate, marbled on the 
upper surface. The tubers are irregular in shape, and grow 
frequently to a great size ; rough, dark in colour, compressed. 
Roots proceed mostly from the under surface, but more or less 
from all parts of the tuber. 
In habit it differs from other Cyclamens in forming short 
gouty stems, which produce leaves and flowers ; these stems if 
cut and planted will again strike root and produce plants. The 
growing shoots for leaves and flowers have a way of stoling 
horizontally underground for some distance before seeking the 
surface and developing, a habit likewise of hederaefolium, so 
that in pots when the spring growth is commencing the plant 
assumes the appearance of a nest of shoots. 
V. C. HEDER#FOLIUM.—This is the autumn- flowering 
species, that to which I have before alluded as found growing 
wild in some woods in Kent; but its native home is on the 
mountains of Switzerland, as well as in Italy, Greece, the 
Tonian Isles, Algeria, and elsewhere. Under this species should 
be classed a few others which have been described under dif- 
ferent specific names; they are, however, only geographical 
forms of the same species. C. africanum or macrophyllum, a 
large coarse-growing variety, and C. grecum or latifolium is 
another, so also is C. neapolitanum, and on the Continent this 
species is also known as C. autumnale. 
There is considerable variety both in shape and hue of the 
foliage as in the colour of the flowers, the former being some- 
times dark green and almost free from marbling, and at other 
times really beautiful with bright silvery bands and markings. 
In the leaf this species most nearly approaches C. vernum, with 
more or less prominent lobes. The flowers vary in colour from 
pure white to the deepest rose; the reflexed sections of the 
corolla display at each edge a tooth-like projection, giving to 
the corona of the flowers a peculiarly diadem-like appearance. 
The tubers are very large, sometimes as much as 12 inches in 
diameter, round, compressed, dark brown, very rough, the roots 
proceeding from all parts of the corm. 
Regarding C. hederzfolium the Hon.and Rey. Mr. Boscawen 
writes to me that he has had it planted in the open ground for 
the past fifteen years, where it flourishes, so that we may say it 
is quite hardy, having been unaffected by 20° to 30° of frost. 
VI. C. PERSICUM.—Of this well-known species it is un- 
necessary for me to say very much; it is the Cyclamen par 
excellence for fragrance, colour, and display, and it is upon 
this plant that the cultivator has spent his most earnest de- 
yotion. The finest specimens grown come to Covent Garden 
Market, and so great is the demand that one firm alone sends 
out from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand plants annually ; 
but in proportion as the flowers are improved in size it appears 
certain that they lose in fragrance, because in its natural con- 
dition C. persicum is so fragrant that a single plant of it in 
bloom will fill a large room with its scent. 
Mr. Boscawen writes to me :—“I have had C. persicum in 
the open air for five years or longer. The plants are some of 
them under slight shade, others exposed on a north bank ; 
they are, when in a north aspect, evergreen. I send you leaves 
that are over a year old. When evergreen they do not blossom 
so wellin winter. The frost does not seem to injure them: the 
blossom sent stood 10° of frost last week. I do not think since 
Ihave had persicum out we have had over 16° of frost ; how- 
ever there has been skating within a few yards of the bank 
where they were growing.” 
It is to this species that my remarks on the cultivation of 
the Cyclamen mostly apply, all other species being hardy, or at 
least half-hardy. There is one peculiarity which distinguishes 
persicum from all the other species of Cyclamen. In all the 
rest, as soon as the flower has been fertilised and the seed-pod 
formed the peduncle commences to assume a spiral form, and 
as the seed ripens it is thus carried as on a contracting cork- 
screw down to the ground, and eventually under the surface, 
where it may germinate. Persicum is an exception to thisrule. 
(To be continued.) 
HARDY PERENNIALS. 
I wish to thank Mr. Taylor for the useful article on herb- 
aceous plants which appeared in the Journal on pages 121-2. 
May I ask him to give us a list of plants which bloom in the 
first half of the year? Iam commencing to grow these most 
interesting plants, and any hints I can get from your columns 
will be much valued. At present I have very few, only such 
well-known species as Phlox. I would ask him to give a list 
of all the best Aquilegias, Campanulas, Hepaticas, and, above 
all, Delphiniums. I intend to purchase the varieties he names, 
and 1 shall be glad if anyone who knows the value of these 
plants will give me an idea of the cost of forming such a 
collection. 
I have no catalogues of any herbaceous plant-growers, and 
so am a little at a loss as to the expense. Ido not want any 
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