Help With Identifying a Flower

[rainoubliette]

Hello!

I was recently given a flower as a get-well gift. I absolutely love it but I need to plant it so it can grow. I don't know what it is and I can't find it on line. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

[ivygirl_5]

Hey, Your plant is called a Cyclamen.

[rainoubliette]

Many thanks! Now I can find out where to place it. I really love it and I'd hate to lose it because I put it somewhere it doesn't want to be.

You're wonderful!

[arian]

it must be cyclame hederifolium

[ivygirl_5]

I was actually thinking that it was a cultivar of Cyclamen persicum

The cyclamen commonly sold by florists and mass produced as pot-plants are cultivars of C. persicum.

[ivygirl_5]

This might be useful for next time:

Anytime your trying to identify a plant and you don't know where to start, try looking for charateristics of the plant to help describe it. Some of these characteristics are specific to certain families of plants and can help narrow down your search alot.

Like:
The shape, color and size of leaves.
The shape, color, size, number of petals, and number of flowers.
Other things like where it grows, hair or no hair on leaves or stems, whether the leaves grow opposite or alternate of each other on the stem.

If you do a Google search for 'heart shaped leaves pink flowers houseplant' you come across a website called 'Caring for cyclamen, a flowering houseplant that requires very little care' and 'Popular Houseplants and their Preferred Growing Conditions' The second one has a little picture of your Cyclamen with this advice:
Cyclamen. This attractive houseplant can handle cooler temperatures at night. Keep cyclamen out of direct sunlight and water frequently. Don’t let the soil dry out too much.

If you learn a little bit more about plant structures you can try to use Dichotomous plant keys to help you identify plants. Unfortunatly most of them are very technical and have no pictures so they can be hard to use without practise.
Good Luck.

[free]

yes it is Cyclamen
i like this flower very very much and i plant it in my house i get it from the mountain in our country it like cold and grow beside stones
so if u want to plant it put it besid stones and under tree it like shadow also

[rainoubliette]

This might be useful for next time:

Anytime your trying to identify a plant and you don't know where to start, try looking for charateristics of the plant to help describe it. Some of these characteristics are specific to certain families of plants and can help narrow down your search alot.

I'm just getting into gardening so I wasn't aware of the type of characteristics to look for. Thanks for your help! Now I can buy flowers without having to pester clerks by asking them "What's this?"

Thanks again!