Cyclamen-creticum_5

Description:

Cyclamen creticum (Doerfl.) Hildebr.Cretan Sowbread, DE: Kretische AlpenveilchenSlo.: kretika ciklamaDat.: April 26. 2016Lat.: 35.36129 Long.: 23.90723Code: Bot_951/2016_DSC1694Habitat: light mountain cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens) wood, moderately steep mountain slope; north aspect, among grasses; rocky, skeletal ground; in shade; elevation 1.030 m (3.400 feet); average precipitations ~ 1.000 mm/year, average temperature 8-10 deg C (estimated ?), Mediterranean phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil.Place: At the foot of White Mountains, north of Omalos plateau, next to the road from Omalos to north shore of the island, somewhat lower after the highest point of the road; West Crete, Mediterranean Sea, Greece EU. Comment: Cyclamen creticum is an endemic plant flowering in spring and found only on islands Crete and Cyprus. All species of this genus are very beautiful. There are more than ten different species known in the Mediterranean region. Several are limited to more or less restricted regions. So we know Cretan, Balearic, Persian, Libyan, Cypriot, African and Greek sowbread. Some bloom in spring, some in autumn.Cyclamen creticum is among the most tender one since it is uniformly snow white (or rarely barely noticeable pale pink-violet), rather small and of minimalistic, simple shape. It has no differently shaped and colorful blotches at the base of the corolla lobes as many others have. There were hundreds of them growing at the spot where I stopped and found them.Ref.:(1) I. Schnfelder, P. Schnfelder, Kosmos Atlas Mittelmeer- und Kanarenflora, Kosmos, (2002), p 144.(2) M. Blamey, C. Grey-Wilson, Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean, A & C Black, London (2005), p 170.(3) D. Seidel, Blumen am Mittelmeer, BLV (2002), p 145.(4) V. Papiomytoglou, Wildblumen aus Friechenland, Mediterrane Editions (2006), p 144.