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Beautiful Autumn Colours

I spotted these gorgeous wild cyclamen (persicum) while walking around the pleasure grounds at Petworth House, so colourful among the autumn leaves.

 

Cyclamen is a genus of 23 species of perennials growing from tubers, valued for their flowers with upswept petals and variably patterned leaves. Cyclamen species are native to Europe and the Mediterranean Basin east to Iran, with one species in Somalia.

 

Cyclamen is Medieval Latin, from earlier Latin cyclamīnos, from Ancient Greek κυκλάμινος, kyklā́mīnos (also kyklāmī́s), probably from κύκλος, kýklos "circle", because of the round tuber In English, the species of the genus are commonly called by the genus name.

 

In many languages, cyclamen species are colloquially called by a name like the English sowbread, because they are said to be eaten by pigs: pain de pourceau in French, pan porcino in Italian, varkensbrood in Dutch, "pigs' manjū" in Japanese.

 

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Uploaded on November 7, 2014
Taken on October 23, 2014