Description
Vinca minor ‘Atropurpurea’
If you are looking for something a little darker in a Vinca, then this is where to come. It tends to be quite rangey in growth, with plain green foliage, tinted ochre at times. The flowers are a ruby-violet with a pale ring about the eye.
Periwinkle – Vinca
Lesser Periwinkle has more congested growth than either of the two larger evergreen species, making the best choice for ground cover. There is pale ring around each flower’s throat.
There is something quite curious about the flowers of the periwinkle that is not immediately obvious, but quite striking when you look at it more closely. The petals are peculiar in not being symmetrical. If you divide each petal from the centre of the flower to the point you will find that the left lobe is far larger than the right lobe. This is a situation that is in fact very unusual in the plant world.
Medicine
Over 90 separate alkyloids have been isolated from Vinca, many quite toxic. All parts of the plant are poisonous, though in the garden they are unlikely to cause any bother. Just don’t go chewing them. The closely related Madagascar Periwinkle, Catharanthus contains the alkyloids vinblastine and vincristine, both used to produce drugs that are useful in targetting certain cancers.
Derivation
Vinca derives from the Latin ‘vincio’ = to bind. Thius refers to the use of the long shoots to tie things together and for their use twining around wreaths.
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