When buying a Christmas tree, there might be poinsettia for sale, but in less “seasonal” colors is Cyclamen, sometimes sold as well.
Cyclamen unlike poinsettias have a slight scent. Seen in purple and pink often, T. H. Everett in his 1981 encyclopedia The New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture that Cyclamen can come in also “the deepest red and white.”
Where are these charming indoor winter plants from? Everett says they’re the result of plant breeding, without even hybridization, of Cyclamen persicum. A “triumph of the plant breeders’ art.” Like poinsettias, reflowering is a complicated task on the part of the gardener but maybe less so. With so many positive qualities, maybe if buying poinsettias, one shouldn’t leave out Cyclamens too.
Sources:
The New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture, 1981
