{"id":15269,"date":"2024-10-26T12:57:51","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T19:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/?post_type=pal&p=15269"},"modified":"2024-11-07T09:30:23","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T17:30:23","slug":"cyclamen-in-history","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/cyclamen-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclamen in history"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know that Cyclamen is officially named in Linnaeus\u2019s Species Plantarum<\/em>, but I am guessing the name\u2019s origin is earlier. Somewhere on the internet, there is a rumor that cave paintings of cyclamen exist, but I have yet to find proof of that. I am planning to do a botanical illustration that draws on historic depictions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"I also could not find evidence for cave paintings, but the name Cyclamen goes back much farther than Linnaeus\u2019s time. It was Latinized from Greek kykl\u0101\u0301m\u012bnos, and that word has ancient origins in the Greek for circle\u2014probably because of the plant\u2019s round tuber. The plant was introduced to cultivation in Western Europe from its native eastern Mediterranean region. There is supposedly a sculpted cyclamen in a house in Pompeii, but it is hard to recognize any of the plant\u2019s \u00a0distinctive characteristics.<\/p>\n

There are pre-Linnaean descriptions of the plant from the time of Greek philosopher Theophrastus (3rd<\/sup> century B.C.E.), and illustrations of it appear in various translations of the Treatise of Plants<\/em> by Greek physician Dioscorides (who lived in 1st<\/sup> century C.E.).<\/p>\n

English herbalist John Gerard<\/a> wrote about it in 1597: \u201cSow-Bread is called in Greek\u00a0Kyklaminos<\/em>: in Latin,\u00a0Tuber terr\u00e6<\/em>, and\u00a0Terr\u00e6 rapum<\/em>: of Marcellus,\u00a0Orbicularis<\/em>: of Apuleius,\u00a0Palalia, Rapum porcinum<\/em>, and\u00a0Terr\u00e6 malum<\/em>: in shops,\u00a0Cyclamen, Panis porcinus<\/em>, and\u00a0Arthanita<\/em>: in Italian,\u00a0Pan Porcino<\/em>: in Spanish,\u00a0Mazan de Puerco<\/em>: in High Dutch,\u00a0Schweinbrot<\/em>: in Low Dutch\u00a0Uetkins Brot<\/em>: in French,\u00a0Pain de Porceau<\/em>: in English, Sow-Bread. Pliny calleth the colour of this flower in Latin,\u00a0Colossinus color<\/em>: in English, murrey colour.\u201d Cyclamen\u2019s common name ‘sowbread’ suggests the tubers were eaten by pigs.<\/p>\n

Here are assorted historic depictions of Cyclamen:<\/p>\n