Ministry turns spotlight on Cyprus cyclamen

The agriculture ministry is this month celebrating the Cyprus cyclamen (Cyclamen cyprium) one of the island’s most beautiful wild flowers with its ‘festive’ white and light pink petals that is in full bloom in December.

The Cyprus cyclamen was first identified by Austrian Karl Georg Theodor Kotschy in 1862. In 1996 it was declared a national plant of Cyprus by the 6th Botanical Scientific Conference and adopted as such by the Council of Ministers in 2006.

The name of the genus Cyclamen appears to be linked to the Greek word for circle and may refer to its round tuber or the rounded leaves. There are 23 known kinds of cyclamen native to the Mediterranean basin and east as far as the Caucasus and Iran. Three types are found in Cyprus, of which the Cyclamen cyprium is endemic.

It occurs in the greater part of the island (except the central plain), from the Akamas peninsula and the Troodos range to the Pentadaktylos range, at an altitude of between 50 and 1100 metres.

It is 7-15 cm high, has simple, cordate, rather fleshy leaves, which have long petioles and coarsely dentate margins. The sweetly fragrant flowers appear in autumn, usually a little in advance of the leaves.

In antiquity, the root was used to treat purulent inflammations where in modern times, the leaves are used to make traditional koubebia.

All Cyclamen species are protected by the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Moreover, the largest populations of Cyclamen cyprium are found in Natura 2000 areas and state forest land and are thus well protected. It is also grown in botanical gardens and environmental info centres.

Cyclamen Cyprium Csc 3343

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.