What is the Cyclamen Society and why become a member.
The Cyclamen Society is an International specialist plant society that was formed in 1977. It is based in the United Kingdom, with members in most parts of the world (60% UK, 40% ROW), plus an active Japanese Branch. The Society also has a Facebook group with over 5000 members.
The society is an educational charity (Registration number 1172732) and exists to encourage cultivation and conservation, and extend knowledge of Cyclamen species, with all their variants and cultivars. In addition to the normal horticultural activities of a specialist plant society it has a research program that includes field studies (since 1987) and laboratory work in collaboration with the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading, UK.
The Society has published several booklets: ‘Cyclamen, A concise guide’, ‘The Cyclamen of Turkey’ in English and Turkish and ‘The Cyclamen of Greece’ in English and Greek, as well as various leaflets to aid cultivation.
The Society also published, in 2013, the results of a long term project to produce a ‘seminal work’ – an illustrated book entitled: ‘Genus Cyclamen: Science, Cultivation, Art and Culture’ which was intended to assemble and record the knowledge held by members and the results of studies arising from the Society’s Field Studies and research available at that time.
Membership
Membership of the Cyclamen Society is open to anyone. If you wish to join or renew your membership, please click the button below to display the online application/renewal form, fill out your details and pay via the Paypal button which appears in the form. You do not have to have a Paypal account to pay via by Paypal, you simply give credit or debit card details as you would for any secure online transaction.
The registration process will give us your email address. We will then set up your access to the members’ area of the website and email saying how to access it.
Benefits of becoming a member
The Journal of the Cyclamen Society, published in June and December, contains articles about plants in the wild and in cultivation. It contains a mix of serious items about horticulture, science, botanical art and ‘chat’ about members’ experiences, with full colour illustrations, both photographs of Cyclamen in nature and in cultivation.
A sample copy can be viewed here.
An online archive of all back issues is available upon joining the society in the members only section of the website.
The editor welcomes articles for the journal, and can be contacted by email at editor@cyclamen.org
Applicants for seed must be members of the Society and applications can be made on the Seed Application Form in the journal or the Seed Orders and Donations page in the members only section of the website. Details of the General Seed distribution accompany the June edition of the Journal and are also available on the Seeds page of this website. An administration fee of 5 UK Pounds is payable for applications. Fresh seed is distributed from late summer which is the best time to ensure good germination. The journal and website contain a list of a large range of seed which is generally available, including all the species (except C. somalense) with varieties of flower colour and leaf forms, many of the registered cultivars, and some florists’ cyclamen cultivars.
A separate list of seeds is published on the website, generally in early October. This consists of seed harvested from plants collected under licence on the Cyclamen Society’s Expeditions (CSE seed), and from good plants owned by two former members of the society, Jan Bravenboer (JB seed) and Peter Moore (PM seed).
Members may have a basic allocation of 10 packets of seed from the General Seed List and may purchase additional seed, if it is available, at 50p a packet. Any seed left over after the main distribution is available to purchase thereafter and may be listed in the December edition of the Journal.
A panel of experts is available to answer questions about any aspect of Cyclamen. Please email info@cyclamen.org.
The Society has a library from which items may be borrowed, for the cost of return postage. A list of the publications available may be obtained by emailing librarian@cyclamen.org.
The Society usually holds four shows each year, including one in conjunction with an annual conference, featuring illustrated lectures. They are often staged at the RHS Gardens at Wisley or at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. However, the Society seeks to schedule events at different locations, to enable a wider portion of the membership to attend. More information can be found in the Shows section of our website.
In addition to the various UK activities, the Society also carries out Field Studies to study the plants in their natural environment: mapping distribution and gathering statistical data about leaves, flowers and other aspects of the plants and their habitats which may be useful in identifying species and variation and current and future conservation requirements. These are reported in the Journal. Plants are sometimes collected for scientific study, strictly within the C.I.T.E.S. licensing controls, and the field studies are supported by botanical institutions and the relevant government departments within the countries concerned. Seed harvested from these plants is made available to members through the annual seed distribution.
These field studies have been organised since 1987 to various countries where cyclamen occur; including Turkey, Israel, the Greek mainland and islands (including Kos, Rhodes, Corfu, Zakinthos and Crete), Georgia, the Lebanon and Bulgaria. Plans for future study are regularly reviewed, according to gaps in our knowledge and opportunity.
Unfortunately, many countries where cyclamen occur are currently politically unstable and the Society is actively developing a network of local botanists to carry out work as an alternative to Society members.
A spin off from this work has been the introduction of new genetic material into cultivation and forms of various species have subsequently been selected, propagated, and distributed by the horticultural industry. One example was derived from a specimen of C. coum forma albissimum collected on the Golan Heights, later distributed under the cultivar name ‘Golan Heights’.
The Cyclamen Society is the International Registration Authority for cultivars of all species of Cyclamen except those of C. persicum. For more information email registrar@cyclamen.org.
The Cyclamen Society published, on 1st March 2013, the results of a long term project to produce a ‘seminal work’ – an illustrated book entitled: ‘Genus Cyclamen: Science, Cultivation, Art and Culture’ which was intended to assemble and record the knowledge held by members and the results of studies arising from the Society’s expeditions and research available at that time.
The Society has also published several booklets: ‘Cyclamen, A concise guide’, ‘The Cyclamen of Turkey’ in English and Turkish and ‘The Cyclamen of Greece’ in English and Greek.
Please see the Publications section of our website for details of all the publications which are available from the Society and how to order them or contact publications@cyclamen.org.