![](https://www.cyclamen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/13-Georgia-background.jpg)
In the December 2012 Journal, Clare Trivedi and Tsira Mikatadze-Pantsulaia said ‘There is an urgent
need to survey potential sites for further populations [of C. colchicum] and collect more
seed for ex situ conservation and further research’. Inevitably this lead to the
Society’s Research Sub-Committee considering and subsequently approving
a proposal for a field study in Georgia. The objectives were two-fold:
- to discover whether Cyclamen colchicum could still be found at
the historical sites mentioned on herbarium sheets and to
attempt to find new locations; - to establish whether there were two taxa present (C. colchicum
and C. purpurascens) as both Alboff and Schwartz believed
(Denney 2012) or whether all the late summer flowering
cyclamen in the region were C. colchicum.
Although no live plants were collected during this field study. 9 sites
were surveyed, with leaf samples collected from 49 plants, for herbarium
specimens and material for laboratory analysis.
A report of the 2013 field study ‘In search of the Colchic cyclamen’ was
published in the Cyclamen Society Journal Vol. 37 No. 2, December 2013.
A report of the more detailed findings of the field study, including a conservation assessment, was submitted to the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Georgia and the Millenium Seedbank Partnership. A copy can be viewed and downloaded here.
CSE Plants and Sites Georgia, 2013.
Plant and Site images may be viewed by clicking on the purple numbers.
CSE Plant No. | Site No. | Species | Description |
---|---|---|---|
13001 | 13/01 | C. colchicum | Leaf reverse, white with pink haze. |
13002 | 13/01 | C. colchicum | Leaf reverse, very pale green almost white. |
13003 | 13/01 | C. colchicum | Prominent veins on leaf surface, pink flush on reverse. |
13004 | 13/01 | C. colchicum | Leaf reverse, very pale grey-green almost white. |
13005 | 13/02 | C. colchicum | Leaf reverse, pale whitish green. |
13006 | 13/02 | C. colchicum | Leaf with pale green hastate pattern. |
13007 | 13/02 | C. colchicum | Leaf reverse, pale whitish grey-green. |
13008 | 13/02 | C. colchicum | Leaf reverse, pale green slight pink flush. |
13009 | 13/02 | C. colchicum | — |
13010 | 13/02 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13011 | 13/02 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. Leaf with broad pale green hastate pattern. |
13012 | 13/03 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13013 | 13/03 | C. colchicum | — |
13014 | 13/03 | C. colchicum | — |
13015 | 13/03 | C. colchicum | — |
13016 | 13/03 | C. colchicum | Flower darker at nose |
13017 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. Leaf reverse, pale green with slight pink flush. |
13018 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. Leaf reverse, pale green with slight pink flush. |
13019 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13020 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | — |
13021 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | — |
13022 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | — |
13023 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | — |
13024 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | — |
13025 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | — |
13026 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | — |
13027 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | — |
13028 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | — |
13029 | 13/04 | C. colchicum | — |
13030 | 13/06 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13031 | 13/06 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13032 | 13/06 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13033 | 13/07 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13034 | 13/07 | C. colchicum | — |
13035 | 13/08 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13036 | 13/08 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13037 | 13/08 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13038 | 13/08 | C. colchicum | — |
13039 | 13/08 | C. colchicum | — |
13040 | 13/09 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. Prominent veins on leaves. |
13041 | 13/09 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13042 | 13/09 | C. colchicum | Sample collected for DNA analysis. |
13043 | 13/09 | C. colchicum | — |
13044 | 13/09 | C. colchicum | — |
13045 | 13/09 | C. colchicum | Darkest flower. |
13046 | 13/09 | C. colchicum | — |
13047 | 13/09 | C. colchicum | — |
13048 | 13/09 | C. colchicum | — |
13049 | 13/09 | C. colchicum | — |
Acknowledgement. We thank The Millenium Seed Bank Partnership (RBG Kew) for the Mitsubishi 4×4 vehicle which was made available to the team. Clare Trevidi, International Co-ordinator, Millenium Seed Bank Partnership, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Wakehurst) acted as the catalyst that initialized this project. Tsira Mikatadze-Pantsulaia, Head of the Department of Plant Conservation, National Botanic Garden of Georgia sponsored the field study during the planning stages. All the other members of the field study team, including Sandro Kolbaia, the local guides – especially Roman Tolordava – and the various drivers of trucks and other vehicles.