Encountering Wild Cyclamen in Jordan

When the TechWomen delegation visited the northern Jordan mountains near village of Koura, I was surprised to see a wild Cyclamen flowering in a limestone field.    The surprise was that a pretty flower I have always considered as a delicate indoor table decoration would be someone else’s wildflower.

As a lifelong gardener and long-time reader of Pacific Horticulture, I am familiar with much of the native and ornamental flora of California and the American West. Many of the plants and trees I saw in Jordan and Lebanon were also familiar – since the climate is not too different from my home. Except for the overwhelming amount of limestone, the parts of Jordan I saw look like California’s Gold Country or the mountains and desserts of the State of Nevada where my family has often gone exploring. I understand that Jordan’s Wadi Rum has more of the granite that is so common here in the western USA.

My unexpected encounter with a wild cyclamen gave me a better understanding of how the biologist felt who identified the thought-to-be-long-extinct Coelacanth in a fisherman’s net in 1938.

Added 4 December 2014 – November photo of TechWomen’s Seham Al Jaafreh of Jordan with cyclamen in Washington DC:

Images Copyright 2013-2014 by Katy Dickinson