Also (6 ciclamin), 7 cyclamine, siclamine, (8 ciclament). [med. and mod.L. cyclamen, L. cyclamīnos or -on, Gr. κυκλάμινος (also κυκλαμίς), ? f. κύκλ-ος circle, with reference to the shape of the bulbous root.]
A genus of Primulaceæ, belonging to Southern Europe, cultivated for their handsome early-blooming flowers; the fleshy root-stocks are greedily sought after by swine, whence the name SOW-BREAD. b. A plant of this genus.
c. 1550. Lloyd, Treas. Health (1585), N ij. Ye rote of Ciclamin.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xi. 329. Of Sowbread … There be two sortes of Cyclamen, as Dioscorides writeth.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Cyclamen, The way of planting Cyclamens, is to put their Bulbs two Inches deep in the Ground.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 226. The root of Cyclamen is famous for its acridity; yet this is the principal food of the wild boars of Sicily.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, First visit to Eng., Wks. (Bohn), II. 3. He praised the beautiful cyclamen which grows all about Florence.
