Transplanting cyclamen
penstemon (Tue, 08 Apr 2014 21:09:34 PDT)

"Snowdrop seed has an appendage called an elaiosome; a small body rich in
fatty acids and other things attractive to ants. In the wild ants probably
visit the ripening pods; carrying off the elaiosomes and discarding the
unwanted seed somewhere en route to their nest. You are not the only being,
therefore, interested in the ripe snowdrop seed in your garden. As the
capsule ripens and swells, the weight bends the supporting stalk until the
capsule is resting on the ground. I have often gone for ripe seed, only to
find the yellowing capsule on the ground with a circular hole in the side
and the seed gone - ants or slugs or both, I assume."

Well, not "probably visit the ripening pods", but "definitely visit", since
seed dispersal is dependent upon ants. Process is called myrmecochory. Ants
have been responsible for sowing snowdrop seeds here (not from the expensive
ones, though).
About twenty-five years ago I received a few tubers of Cyclamen coum from
the late Nina Lambert in New York, and now there are hundreds of C. coum in
the garden here. Ants have also propagated C. cilicium and mirabile, but for
some reason have shown no interest in C. hederifolium.
The moral here is not to disturb the ants in their work.

By the way, I find that cyclamen tubers less than about 2cm transplanted
into the garden suffer from frost heaving, where the self-sown ones do not,
probably due to the roots properly anchoring the tubers.

Bob Nold
Denver, Colorado USA