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Distributed for Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Genus Cyclamen

In Science, Cultivation, Art and Culture

Illustrations by Christabel King and Pandora Sellars

Distributed for Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Genus Cyclamen

In Science, Cultivation, Art and Culture

Illustrations by Christabel King and Pandora Sellars
The Cyclamen is a literary and artistic darling, decorating ceramics, pottery, and jewelry, and found in botanical art references dating back to the first century. It is also a favorite of gardeners, growers, and botanists due to its extraordinary capacity for variation, in colors, shapes, fragrances, and flowering periods.

Genus Cyclamen is a celebration of this remarkable plant. Its science-based emphasis on botany and cultivation is complemented by sections on art and history, including twenty-five newly commissioned paintings and over seven hundred photographs. It provides a wealth of information, including taxonomic descriptions, flowering periods, distribution, and habitat, all based on the deep knowledge and practical experiences of the Cyclamen Society and other cyclamen experts. This book will find a wide audience of growers, gardeners, botanists, and enthusiasts, thanks to its all-encompassing coverage of the cyclamen and its informative, but accessible style.

600 pages | 725 color plates | 9 1/2 x 11 | © 2013

Biological Sciences: Botany


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Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction
Acknowledgements
About the major contributors

1. The botany of cyclamen
    Structure of the cyclamen plant
    Cyclamen curiosities and aberrations
    Uses, legends, culinary value and toxicity of cyclamen
2. Cyclamen in nature
    Introduction, distribution and classification of cyclamen species
    The species of Cyclamen
    Cyclamen hybrids
    Conservation
3. Scientific studies and fieldwork
    Introduction
    The scent of cyclamen
    Comments on taxonomic status of species in Cyclamen subgenus Psilanthum
    Ecology and evolution of Cyclamen subgenus Psilanthum
    The Cyclamen Society’s fieldwork
4. Cyclamen in cultivation
    Growing cyclamen: cultivation and propagation
    Pests and diseases of cyclamen
    Cyclamen around the World
    Exhibiting cyclamen
5. Development of Cyclamen persicum cultivars
    Introduction
    Selection and breeding
    Classification of the C. persicum cultivars
    The market for cyclamen
    Commercial cultivation of cyclamen
    Breeding and seed production
    The future of cyclamen
    List of cultivars
6. Cyclamen in botanical illustration
    Cyclamen in the Old Herbals
    The seventeenth century to the present
7. A celebration of cyclamen in art
8. Cyclamen in popular culture
    Cyclamen on postage stamps
    Cyclamen on ceramics, pottery and glassware
    Cyclamen on jewellry and metalware
    Other uses of the cyclamen image and name
9. Cyclamen literature—a select bibliography
    Cyclamen Society publications
    Periodicals that have particular relevance to cyclamen
    Floras
    The historical sequence
    Miscellanea cyclamenologica

References by chapter
Names of cyclamen index
General index

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