Dioscorides' Plants, Then and Now
κυκλάμινος

Greek cyclamen

Cyclamen graecum Link · Primulaceae
Identification: ProbableNot endemic to GreeceLC Least Concern
Risk rank
29 of 32 (24–29)
Risk score
0.19(0.19–0.21)1 · Low

Then and now

2050 · moderate emissions. SSP2-4.5, 2041-2060, 3 climate models; ranges show the spread.

The plant
κυκλάμινος
Photograph of Cyclamen graecum
Photo: KPFC · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (photo of Greek cyclamen)
2050 · moderate emissions
Natural Earth (PD) · model output · ~10 km cells
Loading map layers (0 of 1)
Layers
Range keptLost by 2050Gained by 2050Cultivation zoneNatura 2000Occurrence cellCells ≈ 10 × 10 km

Occurrences are aggregated to ~10 km cells; exact points are never published. View range data as a table

De Materia Medica · Book II · ch. 164c. 50–70 CE
κυκλάμινος
kyklaminos
κυκλάμινος· φύλλα ἔχει ὅμοια κισσῷ, ποικίλα δὲ κάτωθεν καὶ ἄνωθεν κηλῖσιν ὑπολεύκοις, καυλὸν δὲ τετραδάκτυλον, γυμνόν, ἐφ' οὗ ἄνθη ῥοδοειδῆ, πορφυρίζοντα …
Modern identification
Cyclamen graecumLink · PrimulaceaeProbable

Source: Sprengel 1830, vol. 2, pp. 478-479; Fraas 1845, p. 192; Osbaldeston 2000.

Full citation and quoted evidence

Sprengel 1830, vol. 2, pp. 478-479 (Comm. II cap. CXCIII): discusses only names (sowbread etc.) and uses (Gerard on childbirth); no species is named in the text. Index V, p. 704: 'Cyclamen europaeum L. 478'. Sprengel does not distinguish C. graecum from C. hederifolium; neither name appears. Second κυκλάμινος (cap. CXCIV) he takes as Lonicera periclymenum (after C. Gesner). Fraas 1845, p. 192: '1. Cyclamen graecum Lk., griechisches Schweinsbrod' - 'Ist die häufigste in Griechenland, nebst persicum vorkommende Art, welche gewiss das κυκλάμινος ... Diosc. 2,193 ... ist'; only 'nascitur in umbrosis' is a difficulty. Fraas rejects Billerbeck's referral of Cyclamen hederaefolium to κυκλάμινος ἑτέρα (which he, like Sprengel, takes as Lonicera periclymenum). Modern τρικλαμινός; dry hills, rocks, to 2000 ft (Argolis, Attica). Osbaldeston 2000, ch. 2-194 KUKLAMINOS: SUGGESTED Cyclamen europaeum [Linnaeus] ... and Cyclamen graecum. ANSWER: Fraas names C. graecum; no opened source names C. hederifolium for κυκλάμινος (II 164). (https://archive.org/details/BIUSante_dioscsprengelx02/page/n479/mode/1up ; https://archive.org/details/synopsisplantaru00fraa/page/n237/mode/1up)

Opening words of the chapter (Wellmann numbering). Edition: Wellmann, Pedanii Dioscuridis Anazarbei De materia medica, vol. I (Berlin 1907), p. 228; read off the archive.org page image (item b21459162_0001; the OCR of this volume is not usable Greek); ϑ printed as θ. See the page scan.

No European Medicines Agency herbal monograph for this species.

Projected range change by 2050

2050 · moderate (SSP2-4.5)+11% (−5 to +12%)
2050 · high (SSP5-8.5)+11% (+5 to +30%)

Median and spread across 3 climate models. Whisker axis −80% to +20%, dashed tick at 0; a chevron means the value runs beyond the axis.

Suitable cultivation area, 2050 moderate5,807 km² (4,732–7,414 km²)

Risk score breakdown

0.19 (0.19–0.21)Low risk class 1
00.51.0
  • Range loss 0.00 of max 0.40 · (0.00–0.02)
  • Endemism 0.00 of max 0.20 · not endemic
  • Conservation status 0.00 of max 0.20 · LC · Least Concern
  • Harvest pressure 0.19 of max 0.20

Stays in the top 10 in 0% of 1,000 random weightings.

How the score is built, and how sensitive it is to weights

Model quality

Standard grade
AUC (spatial block CV)
0.83 ± 0.03
Distance-only baseline AUC
0.81 ours is higher
Boyce index
0.86 ± 0.06
TSS
0.56 ± 0.06
Occurrence records
568 after cleaning (of 995)

5-fold spatial block cross-validation (~25 km blocks); ± is one standard deviation across folds. Null model AUC 0.50. The baseline scores each held-out point by its distance to the nearest training record, on the same folds. "Standard" grade means ≥ 30 records, AUC ≥ 0.75 and above the baseline; fewer than 10 records is a data gap; anything else is low grade.

Suggested action

Cultivation opportunity

Climate-resilient candidate crop; cultivation can take pressure off wild collection.

Rule: Gains or keeps habitat · has a 2050 cultivation zone.

Where it could be grown

Identification through time

Who has matched κυκλάμινος to which modern plant, from the Renaissance to today.

All names through time
Cited for the identification we modelProposed an alternativeAlternative preferred by our sourceAlternative rejected by our sourceCommonly proposed, not verified by us
Renaissance commentators
Linnaean botany & Flora Graeca
Edition
Modern
150016001700180019002000
  • κυκλάμινοςDMM 2.164 · Greek cyclamenCyclamen graecumProbable

Select a mark to read who proposed which plant, and the source we read it in.

Dates are each authority's main herbal or commentary (approximate, "c."), used to order the timeline. Claims are parsed from our curated identification table; every quote links back to a page scan or edition on the plant page.

Caveats

  • Identification is probable; results describe Cyclamen graecum Link, which may not be the plant Dioscorides meant.

Range data (map alternative)

ScenarioSuitable ~10 km cellsChangeShare in Natura 2000
Now811—21.9%
2050 moderate884 (783–916)+11% (−5 to +12%)23% (22–23%)
2050 high939 (867–1,063)+11% (+5 to +30%)23% (23–24%)