Species · genus Cyclamen · Primulaceae

Eastern Sowbread

Cyclamen coum Mill.

Also known as: Eastern Cyclamen · Round-leaved Cyclamen

Growth habit

tuberous geophyte

Native range

Bulgaria, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, South European Russia, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe

Reference · C. coum

Cultivars of C. coum

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under C. coum yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

Cyclamen coum is a tuberous geophyte from the woodlands and mountains of the eastern Mediterranean and Caucasus, where it grows in cool, bright shade and stores water in its tuber. Water only when the top inch of mix is dry, keeping water off the crown and tuber to avoid rot, and expect it to rest and die back as the weather warms. It prefers cool, bright indirect light rather than direct sun or hot rooms.

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-14d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 14 days

Humidity

Medium

Temperature

5–18 °C

Soil mix

Well-draining mix, gritty with organic matter

Propagation

Seed; tubers rest dormant through the off-season

Fertilizing

Dilute balanced feed monthly while in active leaf and bloom

Growth rate

Slow

Flowering

Pink to magenta winter blooms above marbled leaves

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Toxic to cats & dogs & humans

Primulaceae, and Cyclamen in particular, contain irritant saponins (triterpenoid saponins) concentrated in the tuber. This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

No reference gallery yet

A few clear photos — habit, a mature leaf, a flower if it blooms — would give this page its eyes.

Add images

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-14d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (family inference)

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Eastern Sowbread yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — is exactly what keeps this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.