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Species Information
General: Plants perennial, from a single large (3-15 cm across), round, flattened tuber.
Stems: Stems scapose, arising directly from the tuber, ascending to erect (becoming spirally coiled in fruit), glabrous at the base and becoming fine-hairy below the flower, reddish-tinged, 8-9 per tuber, 10-20 cm tall
Leaves: Leaves appearing in fall and persisting to spring, ovate-cordate, toothed, margins strongly 5- to 9-angled, glabrous, dark green with pale variegation (centre darker, surrounded by paler area); long-stalked, petioles arising directly from the tuber.
Flowers: Flowers appearing before the leaves, solitary per scape, terminal, nodding; corollas whitish to pink, usually darker pink towards the throat, 5-lobed; corolla lobes 1-2 cm, very sharply reflexed, with a pair of pale pink or white auricles at the base; calyces green to reddish, puberulent, campanulate, equalling the corolla tube, 5-lobed, lobes triangular to broadly lanceolate; stamens included (giving the corollas a truncate appearance). Flowering Aug-Oct.
Fruits: Fruits globose capsules.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014. Author: Jamie Fenneman
Habitat / Range
Woodlands and thickets in the lowland zone. Introduced; infrequent in extreme sw BC (Victoria area). Native to s Europe.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014. Author: Jamie Fenneman
Additional Notes
This species blooms in the fall, with the flowers appearing before the leaves, and the leaves persist through the winter and into the following spring. Although reasonably common in the Victoria area, this popular garden species is apparently not naturalized anywhere else in North America.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014
Author: Jamie Fenneman
Family Information
Annual or perennial herbs from fibrous roots, a taproot, a horizontal rhizome, or a small tuber (or a greatly enlarged tuber in Cyclamen); plants often with secretory resin canals that appear as dark dots or streaks. Stems trailing to erect, solitary to several, branched or simple. Leaves generally cauline (all basal in Cyclamen), alternate or opposite (sometimes whorled or pseudowhorled). Inflorescences variable, ranging from solitary axillary flowers or axillary whorls to stalked axillary racemes, terminal or axillary panicles, or erect terminal racemes. Flowers bisexual, usually stalked; corollas usually radially symmetric (sometimes lacking), rotate or campanulate to funneliform, (4-) 5- to 9-lobed; calyces (4-) 5- to 9-lobed; stamens (4-) 5-9; filaments distinct or connate; ovary superior; styles 1. Fruit a capsule, valvate or circumcissile; seeds usually brown or reddish-brown to black. Genera ~50, species ~1400 (5 genera, 12 species in B.C.). Nearly worldwide, except absent from many deserts and polar regions.
The genera here were all formerly included within a broadly-defined Primulaceae, but have since been moved to the closely related Myrsinaceae following recent molecular-genetic studies that have shown strong support for their inclusion in the latter family (Källersjö et al. 2000, Trift et al. 2002, Cholewa et al. 2009). All genera in B.C., with the exception of the genus Cyclamen, are apparently derived from within the large, highly paraphyletic genus Lysimachia (Hao et al. 2004, Anderberg et al. 2007), at least in its broadest sense, and some authors prefer to treat some or all of these genera as members of that genus so as to preserve its monophyly; however, most published phylogenies of the group (e.g., Hao et al. 2004, Manns and Anderberg 2005, Anderberg et al. 2007) suggest that it consists of a number of well-supported individual clades that might be better recognized as genera. Although such an approach would result in the redistribution of some Lysimachia species into new genera, it seems to best represent the systematics of the group and, as a result, it is the approach that is followed in this treatment (i.e., recognition of Steironema, Anagallis, and Trientalis as separate from Lysimachia). Several species of Cyclamen and Lysimachia are grown as ornamentals in southern British Columbia, including the naturalized species Cyclamen hederifolium, Lysimachia punctata, L. nummularia, and L. vulgaris.
Key to the Genera of Myrsinaceae
1a. Corolla lobes sharply reflexed; plants scapose, from a greatly enlarged, round, flattened tuber; leaves all basal, arising directly from the tuber………………………………………………………………………………………………..Cyclamen
1b. Corollas usually rotate or campanulate to funneliform, but corolla lobes never sharply reflexed; plants not scapose, from fibrous roots, short rhizomes, or small, slightly enlarged, ascending or horizontal tubers; leaves all cauline……………..……...........2
2a. Plants annual (rarely perennial); fibrous-rooted to taprooted…………….……………………………...………..….....…Anagallis
2b. Plants perennial; from rhizome or a small, slightly thickened, horizontal to ascending tuber…………...…………………...........….4
5b. Flowers usually in terminal or axillary racemes or axillary whorls, if solitary and axillary then stems creeping and leaves nearly orbicular……………………………………………………………………………………..……Lysimachia (in part)
4b. Corollas whitish to pinkish, or corollas absent and calyces instead corolla-like and whitish or pinkish…...………….…..…......6
6a. Plants succulent, glaucous; leaves distributed throughout the stems; flowers sessile; corollas absent; calyx lobes whitish or pinkish, corolla-like; plants restricted to saline or alkaline habitats…….…….…….…………...……...Lysimachia (in part)
6b. Plants not succulent, not glaucous; leaves mostly in a single pseudowhorl at top of the stem (stem leaves reduced or scale-like); flowers long-stalked; corollas present; calyces green, not corolla like; plants widespread in terrestrial and some wetland habitats, but never associated with saline or alkaline habitats……………………...……………………..Trientalis
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014. Author: Jamie Fenneman
Genus Information
This genus is most diverse in southern Europe, and many species are popular garden ornamentals. Ornamental taxa include both spring-flowering and fall-flowering species and cultivars. Despite superficial similarities of the flowers to Dodecatheon, which is retained in the family Primulaceae, Cyclamen is not closely related to that genus and, instead, the floral similarities are attributed to convergence on buzz pollination (Mast and Reveal 2007). The true taxonomic position of Cyclamen remains uncertain, as it seems out of place in both Myrsinaceae and Primulaceae. Recent phylogenetic studies have been inconclusive with regard to the placement of the genus, although most do suggest a closer relationship with Myrsinaceae than Primulaceae. It is included here in Myrsinaceae to remain consistent with the most recent floristic treatments of the family. 23 spp. (1 sp. in B.C.). Europe, Middle East, n Africa.
Source: The Vascular Flora of British Columbia, draft 2014. Author: Jamie Fenneman
