[Alice]

Are these cyclamen flowering now, Hilary?

A quick translation:
The monument of the Caryatids  is situated on the ancient acropolis (citadel) of Caryai and is a copy of part of the ancient temple of Erechtheion on the Acropolis in Athens.
The Caryatids, girls from Caryai, were virgin priestesses who used to dance a devotional dance every year during the Caryateia, the festival in honour of Artemis Caryatis.
Lucian (The Dance, 10) wrote: "The Spartans are considered the best of Greeks, having learnt the Catyatid dance from Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux). They do everything to the accompaniment of music, even fight battles to rhythm and the sound of flute".
Later on girls from other parts of Laconia started taking part in this dance and they also were named Caryatids. The girls of Caryai became renowned for their artistic dancing and their graceful poise, so that all female figures in ancient sculpture were eventually named Caryatids. In architecture such female forms were used instead of columns to support buildings or as decorative features in gateways, facades, cornices, friezes and roofs.

[Trevor Australis]

We have Cyclamen africanum blooming now, a week or so ahead of C. hederifolium and I notice that it has pink and white flowered forms. The tubers were raised from Cyclamen Society seed many years ago and we now have a pleasing colony which is spreading from fallen seed and ants distributing it a little further afield. Is it usual to have two colour forms? And is C. africanum still considered a separate sp. tho' closely allied to C. hederifolium? tn

[oron peri]

Trevor,

Cyclamen africanum is closely related to C. hederifolium but it is a species by its own.
It is a wonderful species for a Mediterranean garden, unlike C. hederifolium it is not hardy therefor sutible for a frost free conditions.
As C. hederifolium, flowers have shades of pink and white and an incredible leaf forms, as you have mentioned it seeds it self freely in good conditions and can leave for many years.
Attached some photos from my collection.

[oron peri]

Cyclamen hederifolium would be my nomination. Did you observe any leaves? If the leaf pattern was indistinct it could be C. hederifolium ssp. confusum which is localised in your area according to Grey-Wilson. My C. hed. and C. africanum are flowering too in South Australia.   tn.

It does look like Cyclamen confusum as Trevor suggested, but often it is confused with C. graecum.
C. confusum has been upgraded recently to a species level,  [used to be C. hederifolium subsp confusum].
Another good species for a frost free garden, it is a showy, robust species.

[Hilary]

Alice,
Another wonderful translation.
Do you know I don't think I had ever read the notice?
Thanks,
Hilary

[Hilary]

Trevor, Oron, Alice
More photos of the cyclamen we saw near the Caryatids in Karyes last October.
There were two clumps. One smothered by pine needles the other smothered by Bermuda Buttercup, Oxalis pes caprae, not a leaf in sight
Hilary

[oron peri]

Hilary,
It is C. confusum.
By the way there is one leaf if you look carefully down on the right side of the first photo.

[Hilary]

Thanks Oron,
I found another leaf on the original photo
Hilary

[Alisdair]

Just to add a little more confusion to Cyclamen confusum: the plants that have recently been separated out as the newly named Cyclamen confusum seem to be confined to western Crete. The fleshy-leaved big-flowered hederifoliums like Hilary's caryatid cyclamens, at low altitudes on the Greek mainland and several of the islands, following DNA work that Alastair Culham did alongside the botanical studies by Martyn Denney and Peter Moore, are now being called Cyclamen hederifolium subsp. crassifolium.
I'm sure arguments will go on and on about these names (which have not yet been accepted by Kew's Plant List, but are accepted by IPNI).  

[Fermi]

The first Cyclamen hederifolium (white as well as pink) are now out as is the first one of C. graecum
cheers
fermi

[Trevor Australis]

Cyclamen hederifolium 'BOWLES APOLLO - is it really a consistent strain? And under what circumstances? I have grown 4 batches of Cyc Soc seed of this and they are all different in leaf and flower size - all are white, and I guess a bit bigger than others of mixed parentage. The differences don't really bother me much but I am curious about the value of keeping the name. Comments Alisdair, Oron, Fermi - anyone?

[Daisy]

Some of my  Miracle Cyclamen have not stopped flowering.
The group that is under the orange tree flowered all winter, spring and are still flowering now.
Does this mean they won't flower next winter?
Daisy

[Alisdair]

They may go on flowering valiantly - it'll be really interesting to see if they do! So do let us know.
But almost certainly, even if they do go on flowering non-stop, they won't flower so well as they would have if they'd been allowed to go dormant in the warm weather. I imagine you water the orange tree - so the deep cool shade and the continuing moisture in the ground could be fooling them into thinking that the time to go to sleep (which is when their next season's flower buds would be initiating) hasn't yet come....

[John]

Hi Daisy, hope all's well with you.
With these dwarf C. persicum I would normally advise that they are just bedding which is pretty much true in London but with you you may be lucky, you do have the right climate. The other reason most modern seed strains fail to be good long lived perennials is that they have been selected to flower quickly and before they have developed a good tuber so that all the available food goes into flower production. You did say some of them so perhaps others have stopped and are trying to have a natural break?
Your soil is probably quite fertile and if they are to continue flowering perhaps even adding a slow release fertilizer or a high potash liquid feed would help, but I suspect a rest would be better if they are to continue for years to come.
Even if they prove to be short lived bedding they were possibly not too expensive and for their flower power they can easily be replaced for the next season.

[Alice]

I planted a few Cyclamen rohlfsianum seeds a few weeks ago and two have germinated. Two-three weeks after germinating, the stalks are about 2.5cm tall and they are still carrying their seed cases. Is that normal?