Cyclamen

Cyclamen, a small genus of Primulaceae (q.v.), mostly natives of the Mediterranean region, but represented by one rare species, C. hederoefolium, in England. They have a large corm, which, though acrid, is eaten greedily by swine, whence the English name Sow-bread. The leaves are radical, petiolate, cordate, and often marbled with greyish-white, and the flowers form one-flowered scapes with curved peduncles. The lobes of the corolla are curiously reflexed and twisted, and after flowering the peduncle often bends down until the capsule is either on or in the ground. C. persicum and others are favourite greenhouse flowers.