Reem Kattan is interested in any folklore associated with cyclamens.

Plant-lore Archive contains no cyclamen lore; if anyone knows any please could they send it to roy@plant-lore.com

Comments:

1. In Vickery’s Folk Flora (2019) it is noted that herbalists recommended cyclamen to ease childbirth, and there is a quote from John K’Eogh’s Botanalogia Universalis Hibernica (1735): ‘The root hung around a Woman’s Neck in Labour occasions speedy Delivery.  It is very dangerous for Women with Child to make use of it, or step over it.’

2.  From an article ‘Flowers and Charms’ by Bel Bailey, in Ireland’s Own, date unknown: ‘Although the first month of the New Year has the fewest flowers there is no shortage of old beliefs surround [sic.] them.  Take the cyclamen still blooming as a pot plant in many homes. Traditionally this is a very lucky plant for those in love.  Our ancestors even used to chop it up as an ingredient in little love cakes.  Once the cakes were eaten the cook herself seemed irresistible!  The presence of a cyclamen in the house was also said to prevent drunkenness, naturally a popular little plant.’

Image: cultivated, Worcester, September 2023.

Updated 31 December 2025.