Cyclamen persicum, the Persian cyclamen, is a species of flowering herbaceous perennial plant growing from a tuber, native to rocky hillsides, shrubland, and woodland up to above sea level, from south-central Turkey to Lebanon-Syria and the Palestine region. It also grows in Algeria and Tunisia and on the Greek islands of Rhodes, Karpathos, and Crete, where it may have been introduced by monks. Cultivars of this species are the commonly seen florist's cyclamen. Description Cyclamen persicum is a perennial, herbaceous plant that reaches heights of about . Wild plants have heart-shaped, fleshy leaves, up to usually green with lighter markings on the upper surface. The leaf underside may be pale green or reddish. The leaf margin is slightly thickened and usually serrated. As a storage and persistence organ, C. persicum forms a perennial hypocotyl tuber. It arises solely through a thickening of the hypocotyl, the shoot axis area between the root neck and the first cotyledon. The rounded, slightly flattened tuber is about 4 to 15 cm or more in diameter. It is of corky consistency. The roots spring from the underside, and the tops of the spirally arranged, long-stalked leaves of the plant spring from the top. Flowers Flowers bloom from winter to spring (var. persicum) or in autumn (var. autumnale) and have 5 small sepals and 5 upswept petals, usually white to pale pink with a band of deep pink to magenta at the base. Cyclamen carry on individual stems standing flowers that hang down but whose petals are bent strongly upwards. In the species, flowers are sweetly scented, but the scent has been lost in cultivated forms. Fruit After pollination, the flower stem curls downwards slightly as the pod develops, but does not coil as in other cyclamens. Plants go dormant in summer. The fruits are capsules, which are sunk into the ground with increasing maturity, by waxing and curling of the stem. The capsules only open when they are in the ground. Range The natural range of Cyclamen persicum extends from North Africa across West Asia to Southeast Europe. In particular, the following occurrences are documented: In North Africa, the species is represented in the northern and eastern parts of Algeria and in northern Tunisia. In Western Asia, stocks were confirmed in Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, western Syria and western Turkey. In the eastern part of Greece, the only deposits in Europe could be occupied. The preferred