Cyclamen coum f. coum ‘Alice D’

A selection by Jan Bravenboer. The leaf is orbiculate (round) with the leaf lobes clasping over one another where the stalk emerges. They are 35 mm long by 35 mm wide and grey green with a darker yellow-green rim. The underside of the leaf is light green, suffused pink.

The petals are dark pink but slightly darker towards the edges and with indistinct veining. They are ovate (egg-shaped) with an obtuse (rounded) tip and are twisted lengthways. They have a purple basal stain on the sinus surrounding a pinkish zone. The two normal white spots at the base of each corolla lobe (petal) are suffused with pink. The petal length is 16 mm, petal width 8-9 mm, twisted. The tuber is depressed on the upper surface, globose (spherical), brown. The roots emerge from the centre of the underside of the tuber. Diameter is approximately 30 mm. How many seeds per pod and if seed is true to type were not specified by Jan.

Alice D. was named for Alice Dingeman, a volunteer at De Boschhoeve Garden and Nursery near Arnhem in The Netherlands. For more than 25 years, she has done the entire catering and procurement for the big markets held there, among which The Dutch Snowdrops Market in February is the most famous. From 2000, Jan and Mieke Bravenboer became regular contributors to this famous Dutch snowdrop market and the three of them became close friends. On 13 March 2012, Alice gave a kidney to a friend’s husband thus saving his life. Jan and Mieke knew the story and a year later at the snowdrops market Alice was surprised to have a cyclamen pressed in her hand with the announcement: ‘This is named after you. It is a cyclamen with certain instructions for use, a difficult thing and it is difficult to flower. So we thought this is the right cyclamen to have your name.’ Apart from that, Alice D. was Jan’s phonetic joke for LSD.