Why can't the cyclamen I grow with five rabbit ears bloom?

Look at the picture below. Do these pink and tender petals remind you of a small animal?

Guess an animal | David J. Stang / Wikimedia Commons

Crazy Hint | ElyPenner / Pixabay

——The petals are oblong and white with a hint of pink, like a pair of erected rabbit ears! This plant is called Cyclamen persicum, and some people also call it the rabbit ears flower because of its appearance.

I heard that some people call it rabbit ear flower

As someone who often failed foreign language exams in school, I have always felt that it is a great thing to give a foreign species a Chinese name. The first person to translate the name Cyclamen was Zhou Shoujuan, a representative of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School during the Republic of China period, a horticulturist and writer.

The little white rabbit has its ears showing! | Zeynel Cebeci / Wikimedia Commons

When he first saw this Primulaceae plant with flowers that look like rabbit ears, he transliterated it into "Xiankelai" based on its genus name, Cyclamen, which means that the cyclamen came to visit . Mr. Zhou did not say who this cyclamen was, but judging from the shape of the flower, it is probably the rabbit on the moon palace ?

Speaking of the Rabbit Sage, it's this one, of course | Touhou Hisoten no Kō

Cyclamen comes from the ancient Latin word cyclamīnos. Does it look familiar? It is the same as the English word circle, which means round and is used to describe the round underground tubers of cyclamen.

In English, the common name of cyclamen is sowbread , which describes that its tubers are eaten by wild boars as bread; the working people of China gave it a simple name, radish crabapple , which also emphasizes the shape of the tuber. The species name of cyclamen, persicum, means "Persian", but it is not actually produced in Persia , but is native to North Africa, Greece and Turkey.

Cyclamen, an ivy-leaved cyclamen | hardycyclamens.com

Small and lovely potted flowers

The flowers and leaves of cyclamen sprout from the top of the tuber, and the roots grow from the sides and bottom. When planting cyclamen tubers, you must distinguish the upper and lower ends . If you plant them upside down, even if they can sprout, the shape of the plant will be very strange. The method of distinguishing is not difficult. There will be some traces of old flowers and leaves on the top of the tuber. Just bury this side facing up shallowly in the substrate.

Cyclamen tubers are somewhat toxic and can cause diarrhea in humans. Pets should be careful not to eat them by mistake.

The radish-shaped tuber of cyclamen. The lower part in the picture should be buried in the soil, and the upper part is the top of the rhizome, which should be exposed outside. However, the two branches here and the shape like rabbit ears are just a coincidence... | Pacific Bulb Society

Potted cyclamen are usually planted in late summer and early autumn . The substrate needs to be kept moist but not waterlogged. When it senses the coming of autumn, it will stretch and put out its slender flower buds. The first batch of flowers that bloom each year are generally small, and then they will grow larger and more numerous. The flowering period is also particularly long, from autumn to the next spring, and the peak flowering period is around the Spring Festival.

Cyclamen is also listed as one of the Chinese New Year flowers | plantsrescue.com

When the cyclamen bud is first born, the pedicel is bent downward , and the petals are arranged in a rotating manner in the bud like a drill bit. After the flower blooms, the five petals fold upward. The man's romance does not last long and turns into little rabbit ears full of girlish heart.

The petals of the native cyclamen are pink , and the color of the throat deepens, looking like a rabbit's eyes from a distance. After years of domestication, there are now hundreds of varieties with different colors, patterns and flower shapes .

The flower stalk bends downwards and the petals fold upwards, making it look cute and playful | pixabay.com

Its cuteness is far more than just bunny ears

After successful pollination, the cyclamen's rabbit flower will develop into a spherical capsule . When mature, the fruit stalk will gradually bend, dropping the fruit to the ground. After that, the top of the fruit will crack and the peel will curl up like petals, revealing the sticky seeds inside.

Cyclamen bearing fruit | wikipedia

This is actually the strategy of cyclamen to spread its seeds. It uses the sugars on the surface of the seeds to attract ants. The ants will carry the seeds away, chew the mucus clean and throw them away. At this time, the cyclamen seeds are spread to distant places.

Cyclamen fruits and seeds | gardeningknowhow.com/edgewoodgardens.net

The leaves and flowers of cyclamen basically sprout at the same time or slightly later. The heart-shaped leaves are light red on the back and green on the front, with silver patterns on them. Different varieties of cyclamen have different patterns on their leaves. They are more beautiful than many foliage plants, which is also one of their charms.

A common problem with potted cyclamen is that the leaves grow too densely, covering the growth points of the flower buds and reducing the amount of flowering. Therefore, during daily maintenance, you need to pull the leaves outwards every now and then to allow the center to be exposed to sunlight so that more flowering can occur.

Too dense leaves will affect the growth of flower buds | flickr.com

Cyclamen is very afraid of lack of water, but it cannot stand water accumulation. The dense petioles and the base of the pedicels are squeezed together, which easily accumulates water. So when watering, water slowly from the edge of the flower pot , and try not to water the center of the plant to avoid rot. Cyclamen's native environment is generally under the forest. Although it likes sunlight, it cannot tolerate direct sunlight. Bright scattered light is most suitable for it.

Head bowed in love | Zeynel Cebeci / Wikimedia Commons

Cyclamen plants are widely distributed along the Mediterranean coast. In addition to various horticultural varieties of cyclamen, native species such as ivy leaf cyclamen (C. hederifolium), Silesian cyclamen (C. cilicium), and small flower cyclamen (C. coum) have become increasingly popular among players in recent years. Their flowers are also in the shape of rabbit ears, and the tubers are flat and round like a pancake.

Ivy Leaf Cyclamen | rhsplants.co.uk

Unlike cyclamen, the roots of these species generally sprout from the upper part of the tuber, and the lower half only grows a few roots at most.

Compared with cyclamen, ivy-leaf cyclamen and small-flowered cyclamen are not resistant to high temperatures and have difficulty surviving the summer, but they can withstand severe cold of more than ten degrees below zero and can overwinter outdoors in many parts of my country. However, they must also pay attention to wind protection, as the bitter cold wind in the north will cause great damage to their leaves.

Silesian Cyclamen | easytogrowbulbs.com

What other plants look like cute rabbits?

In addition to the cyclamen mentioned today and the Monilaria obconica mentioned a few days ago, there are actually the following plants that look like rabbits:

Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas) has spikes of inflorescence with well-developed bracts at the top that look like purple rabbit ears.

Spanish lavender | jp.pinterest.com

The two lobes on the corolla of Cymbalaria muralis stand upright towards the sky, also resembling a rabbit.

Fish with willow branches | ignacio56.blogspot.jp

Utricularia sandersonii is also known as the white rabbit bladderwort. You can tell why it is called this by looking at its flowers. It also has a variant commonly known as the blue rabbit, which has larger flowers and darker colors.

Sanderson's bladderwort | Avery

Author: Desert Porcupine

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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