Cyclamen is a genus of 20 species of flowering plants , classified in the family Myrsinaceae . The genus is most widely known by its scientific name Cyclamen being taken into common usage ; other names occasionally confusingly , Persian violet ( it is not related to the violets ) , or primrose ( neither is it a primrose ) , is to remember Cyclamen was classified in Primulaceae families by authorities . The most frost-hardy species , such as Cyclamen purpurascens , Cyclamen hederifolium , Cyclamen coum , and Cyclamen cilicium , tolerate temperatures down to -20 C. Cyclamen hederifolium has even survived prolonged freezing and temperatures down to -30 C.