Cyclamen colchicum ‘Deirdre’

A selection by Jan Bravenboer. The distinctive feature of ‘Deirdre’ is its completely plain green leaf with conspicuous toothed leaf margins. The leaf has a thick texture and is reniform (kidney-shaped). The underside of the leaf is a dull purple with greenish veins. The leaf length is 40 mm, leaf width 50 mm. The flowers are weakly fragrant, petals slightly twisted; the petals are a pale pink with darker pink veins, a dark nose and an obtuse (rounded) to subacute (bluntly pointed) tip, slightly auriculate with style exerted. Petal length 19-22 mm, petal width 7-8 mm. The tuber is round, globose (spherical) brown, yellow to green when exposed, the roots emerge from the sides of the tuber. Diameter is approx 30 mm. The seed pods are small, 7 mm in length and 5 mm in diameter with 3 to 5 seeds per pod.

When Jan and Mieke were in the UK for cyclamen shows, they most often stayed in a Wisley village bed and breakfast: an ancient cottage next door to Wisley Church, run by their friends Deirdre and Christopher Geer. When Jan offered this plain-leafed plant to Peter Moore without a name, Peter said he couldn’t do anything with a plant without a name and so it became ‘Deirdre’. This cultivar was created/selected by Jan Bravenboer probably in 2010. It comes more than 90% true from seed.