Development of fragrant cyclamen by interspecific hybridization

Cyclamen cultivars have been bred from wild species of Cyclamen persicum by improving color, size and shape of the flowers, but the scent of the flowers has not been improved. So, we started on breeding to improve the scent of cyclamen. By interspecific hybridization between cultivars of C. persicum and fragrant wild species of C. purpurascens, we developed fragrant cyclamen cultivars, ‘Uruwashi-no-kaori’, ‘Kaori-no-mai’ and ‘Kokou-no-kaori’ that emitted fragrance similar to C. purpurascens. Although the aroma quality of these fragrant cyclamens was greatly improved, the coloration variety of them was decreased, compared with cultivars of C. persicum. So far, we have carried out mutation breeding using ion-beam irradiation technique to increase coloration variety of the fragrant cyclamen.