The principle objective of the Cyclamen Society Expedition to Israel in February 1990 was to continue the study of Cyclamen coum. An account of the expedition with particular reference to C. coum was published in the Society's Journal (14(l):13, June 1990).
The expedition team, Richard Bailey, Peter Moore and Melvyn Jope, was given a considerable amount of information about the known locations of Cyclamen persicum by Prof Avi Schmida, Department of Botany, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. As a result of his advice, it was decided that the first site visited would be Tel Maresha, about 20 miles south west of Jerusalem and the most southerly known habitat of Cyclamen persicum in Israel. We found a considerable number of plants growing in an open situation, with the companion plants including delightful specimens of Iris palaestina in shades of pale blue and green, and large numbers of red Anemone coronaria and Allium neapolitanum. The C. persicum included some fine mature plants but few that were considered horticulturally desirable. Some of the leaves were rather cabbage-like, the largest measured being 215 mm x 155 mm (8.5 x 6 in). It transpired that the best plants were supposed to be in the nearby Israeli army firing range, but since it was in use at the time we declined the opportunity to carry out a survey. We did, however, make use of their refreshments van and did our best to satisfy the myriad questions asked about why we were there.
The second site visited was Giv'at Yesha'Yahu, about 12 miles south-west of Jerusalem. At this location, the cyclamen were growing under a canopy of pine trees with Colchicum and Arisarum spp. Once again, the majority of plants were unexciting but, of the plants collected, one had the best silver leaves found in any plant during the expedition and another had good dark flowers. The collection number of the silver leaf plant was 90109.
During the early part of the expedition, we stayed at the YMCA in Jerusalem, and the first C. persicum that we found were growing in the Yemin Moshe Park, close to the old city wall. The plants were not growing in flowerbeds but were found in very large limestone boulders which were used for landscaping, and had obviously been brought into the city from the surrounding countryside. We found C. persicum plants used for their decorative value on only one occasion and that was in a hotel windowbox in the north of the country at Zafat.
Surveys were carried out at three more sites in the Jerusalem area before we travelled to the Golan in the north of the country to study C. coum. During this part of the expedition, we had Ori Fragman from the University acting as guide. Accommodation had been arranged for us at the Qibutz Snir Field Station which was seven miles east of Qiryat Shemona. There were many thousands of C. persicum at this location growing with Anemone coronaria, which were now to be found in shades of blue, pink and white.
It was from the Qibutz Snir base that we travelled to Mt Hermon and the Golan heights to study two of the three known populations of C. coum. We were unsuccessful in finding C. coum on Mt Hermon, partly because the road was restricted as a military area and partly due to the thick covering of snow at the higher altitudes. C. persicum was found in several locations in the Golan, but we were particularly interested in the plants found growing with C. coum at the summit of Mt Meron. It was very cold with rain and hail on the day that we visited the area and there were the last remnants of earlier snow falls. There were many C. persicum growing at the summit and as well as C. coum the companion plants were Ornithogalum lanceolatum, Iris histrio, Sternbergia clusiana, Hyacinthus orientalis, Gagea and Colchicum spp. Three plants of C. persicum found at this location were in flower. The two plants collected at 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) have the collection numbers 90560 and 90561. It is to be hoped the seedlings from these plants will prove to be hardy in UK gardens. Perhaps recipients of seeds from these plants through the seed distribution could conduct their own experiments on the hardiness of the plants.
The weather on the day after the visit to Mt Meron was, in stark contrast, clear blue sky and hot sunshine. We headed south and crossed the Karmel mountain range, and on to a location 3 km east of Me-if-Shefeye. While carrying out a survey among thousands of plants growing in a roadside gulley, we found one plant with white petals and a very pale basal blotch - reminiscent of C. repandum ssp. rhodense. This plant has collection number 90620.
After a lunch of peach juice and butter osborne biscuits, we were admiring one or two plants of Gynandriris sisyrinchium when we noticed two fine plants of C. persicum with pure white flowers. Both plants were collected and given the numbers 90621 and 90622. During our discussion with Prof Schmida, we were told of the presence of some autumn-flowering C. persicum. After extensive searching, we did find the correct location at the Duma junction north-north-east of Jericho. The majority of plants were in flower, but in a very restricted area some plants were found with well developed seed pods. Twenty-four seed pods and five plants were collected (90650 to 90654) which apart from being in seed were indistinguishable from any other C. persicum. One of the plants (90652) was exhibited at the Society's conference at Surrey University in September 1992, with one well developed flower and a considerable number of buds.
As mentioned in Richard Bailey's article referred to above, the Israeli forms of C. persicum are not enormously variable, but there were some interesting plants and with the knowledge of the appropriate collection numbers, members that have been recipients of the seeds will have a clear idea of what they might expect as additions to their collections.