The Society is pleased to announce the publication of the first translation into English of 'Die Gattung Cyclamen L., eine Systematische und Biologische Monographie', written in 1898 by F. Hildebrand. This new authoritative translation has been completed by one of the Society's most respected members - Erna Frank.
The book is priced at UK£28.00 (including postage & packing in the UK), or to members at the special price of UK£25.00. Click here to order, and for further details.
The book has been reviewed by Alisdair Aird, for the Society's journal, as follows:
As our President Brian Mathew says in his preface to this translation, "Here we have an in depth study of the living plants that has never been equalled... a classic that was well ahead of its time". Though a century has passed since the original German publication of this heavyweight monograph, it has remained very highly prized for its remarkably acute observations by those few people lucky enough both to have access to one of the rare surviving copies and to be able to read German. So the Cyclamen Society decided to sponsor Erna Frank's translation of the book and to publish it so as to allow much wider access to the gems of information which it contains. This has not been a commercial undertaking, but has instead been in pursuit of the Society's charitable objective of widening knowledge of cyclamen - the price reflects this, having been set at the lowest level which may eventually allow recovery of production costs but which includes no profit element.
Hildebrand had been Professor of Botany at Freiburg for 30 years when this great work was published. He was a cultivated man of wide interests, a lively correspondent with Darwin, and had many other publications to his credit what is special about this book is that he brought his formidable powers of observation and analysis to bear on living plants of known provenance, preferably in their natural habitats. Although he also examined herbarium specimens carefully, he was well ahead of his time in finding them less reliable than the living material. His book is therefore unexpectedly richly detailed on differences between and within species, in factors which have been widely neglected since. These factors include tuber surfaces and root emergence, different stages of leaf development from tiny seedlings onwards, form and veining of sepals highlighted by him as an important diagnostic factor), shape, colour and twisting of the corolla, markings at its base and inside its mouth, and microscopic variations in floral parts and leaves.
Often, Hildebrand seems to be quite extraordinarily up to date, or even in advance of the currently accepted state of taxonomic knowledge. His account of the species he accepted as C. alpinum is a fascinating example of this. A close reading of this account in the light of what is coming to be known (or rediscovered) about C. trochopteranthum makes one wonder whether Schwarz's 1975 decision to adopt that latter name and reject C. alpinum would be taken today - although Schwarz of course know Hildebrand's work well. There's also a sense of surprising contemporaneity about his notes on the fleshy leaved Greek form of C. hederifolium, which he considered might be separated as var. crassifolium, though he did not think the evidence yet conclusive at that time. His intricate observations on the various components of the species we now aggregate as C coum also give plenty of fuel for thought today, and will no doubt send many taxonomically minded readers searching for the exact position of the leaf-edge hydathodes. Hildebrand found that this position was quite different on the plain leaf plants that he called C coum from its position on the marbled leaf ones that he called C. ibericum. His detailed description of specific variations in anthers and the papillae which cover them in varying colours, shapes and combinations is quite eye opening. He quotes Professor Battandier as authority for the presence in Algeria of C. repandum; he gives a long account of the C. hederifolium x africanum hybrid which Schwarz eventually named after him over 50 years later; he documents careful progeny trials.
These are all examples which struck this reviewer as giving Hildebrand's work a remarkably fresh and up-to-date feel, despite the 19th-century closeness of its arguments and the equally 19th-century piling together of technical detail after technical detail. His strictures on misnaming by nurserymen might well have been written yesterday or today (do the initials GS come to mind?). And have things changed much since he wrote: "Much has been observed and reported on the germination of cyclamen seeds, most of it not very accurate or even quite wrong"? But it is in his more wide-ranging observations that his work really comes to life: the reasons for velvety or silvery leaf textures; the development of individual seedlings; changes in a plant's characteristics from one year to the next; the way floral trunks grow (and what happens if you plant tubers upside down); what factors influence seed set. His observations on pollination in practice are very choice - whether it's the behaviour of an individual closely observed bee, or whether it's his general conclusions (that it is exogamous initially, by insect pollination, then subsequently by the action of the wind). He reckoned that ants are drawn to seed pods ahead of their ripening and turn up and lie in wait ("This factor was the cause of a year's delay in many of the above observations and experiments").
Given the sharp detail of Hildebrand's study of living cyclamen, it is perhaps surprising that he was so dismissive of scent ("a somewhat dubious business"); was he, like so many of his contemporaries, a pipesmoker?
Erna Frank's translation is faithful to the intricacy of his observation, the extreme clarity of his lengthy descriptions, and the charmingly old-fashioned elegance with which he could turn a neat phrase. (As it was she who with her husband Ron discovered C graecum album, she must have particularly enjoyed translating Hildebrand's description of C graecum's flower colour as "darker or lighter rosy red, but never white, as is sometimes reported".) People who like to look closely at cyclamen will be enormously grateful to her for bringing this fascinating book, so full of insights, within their reach. She has kept Hildebrand's nomenclature intact, using the spelling of the time (C Coum, for instance, and C cilicicum - there is indeed a temptation to use that second spelling today). The 126-page book has been produced in a way which, given modern production techniques, echoes as closely as possible the style and feel of the original. The six double plates showing 218 detailed monochrome drawings, most of them by Hildebrand himself, are also reproduced.
Clearly this review, by an Officer of the Society, cannot claim impartiality. However there seems no denying that this remarkable monograph set standards which are only rarely if ever met these days, and I for one give heartfelt thanks to Erna for exposing its treasures to me.