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Mr. W. T. Thiselton Dyer. 



of any of our domestic breeds." # As is, however, well known, lie 

 regarded them as the result of accumulation by selection of successive 

 slight variations. Bat he also tells us that "the chance will be 

 infinitely small of any record having been preserved of such slow, 

 varying, and insensible changes." 



It seemed to me important, therefore, to obtain the history of some 

 cultivated plant which would not be open to the objections urged In 

 the case of the cineraria. 



After some consideration I selected the plant known in gardens as 

 Cyclamen per sicum. Owing to the kindness of the skilful horticul- 

 turists w T ho have worked upon it, I am able to place on record a 

 nearly complete history of the changes it has undergone. 



The genus Cyclamen belongs to the small order Primulacece, 

 which in its affinities is somewhat isolated. Cyclamen itself is dis- 

 tinguished from the rest of the tribe Lysimachiece, to which it 

 belongs, by the reflexed segments of the corolla. 



Cyclamen persicum, Mill., is a name given by gardeners to a form 

 slightly modified by cultivation of C. latifolium, Sibth., a species con- 

 fined to Greece and Syria. There is a good figure of the type in 

 Sibthorp's ' Flora Graeca ' (t. 185). It has pink flowers, with a ring of 

 darker colour at the throat. The species is said to have been first 

 cultivated in Europe at Lille in 1731,f having been introduced from 

 Persia. There must have been some error as to its origin, for 

 Boissier points out that the species is not found in that country. ^ 

 In all probability it was obtained from Syria. The Lille plant 

 ultimately went to Ghent, and it has been asserted that all the 

 cultivated forms in existence are descendants from this one indi- 

 vidual. The assertion cannot be proved, but is not improbable. It 

 is known to have been a variety with white flowers. As will be 

 shown, the forms now in cultivation have been derived from a white- 

 flowered one, which in turn might well have been derived from the 

 Lille plant. 



Such a modified form was, in fact, that described by Miller, in 

 1768, in the eighth edition of his ' Gardener's Dictionary,' under the 

 name of Cyclamen per sicum. He describes the flowers as "pure 

 white with a bright purple bottom." It was figured in the ' Botanical 

 Magazine ' in 1787 (t. 44), and it has come down little altered to our 

 own day. In 1875 Boissier describes it as " forma hortensis a me 

 nunquam spontanea visa." It still exists in cultivation, and is the 

 (old) " crimson and white " of Messrs. Sutton. It seems always to 

 have been popular in cultivation on account of its agreeable 

 fragrance. This confirms the Syrian origin of the original stock, for 



* ' Origin,' 6th ed., p. 29. 



t 1 La Semaine Horticole,' 1897, p. 23. 



X ' Flora Orientali?,' vol. 4, p. 12. 



