Vinca

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Vinca

Vinca (from Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
vincire: "to bind, fetter") or Periwinkle is a genus of five species in the family Apocynaceae

Apocynaceae

The Apocynaceae or dogbane family is a family of Angiosperms that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, and lianas.Many species are tall trees found in tropical rainforests, and most are from the tropics and subtropics, but some grow in tropical dry, xeric environments....
, native to Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, northwest Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
and southwest Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
. The common name periwinkle is shared with the related genus Catharanthus
Catharanthus

Catharanthus is a genus of eight species of herbaceous perennial plants, seven endemic to the island of Madagascar, the eighth native to the Indian subcontinent in southern Asia.Jordan...
.

They are subshrub

Subshrub

A subshrub is a horticultural rather than strictly botany category of woody perennial plant. It is distinguished from a shrub by its ground-hugging stems and lower height, with overwintering perennial woody growth typically less than 10–20 cm tall, or by being only weakly woody and/or persisting only for a few years....
s or herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaf and stem that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. A herbaceous plant may be Annual plant, Biennial plant or Perennial plant....
, and have slender trailing stems 1-2 m (3-6 feet) long but not growing more than 20-70 cm (8-30 inches) above ground; the stems frequently take root where they touch the ground, enabling the plant to spread widely.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Vinca'

Start a new discussion about 'Vinca'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Vinca (from Latin

Latin

Apocynaceae

Europe

Africa

Asia

Subshrub

Herbaceous

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are opposite, simple broad lanceolate to ovate, 1-9 cm (0.25-3.5 inches) long and 0.5-6 cm (0.25-2.25 inches) broad; they are evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
in four species, but deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
in the herbaceous V. herbacea
Vinca herbacea

Vinca herbacea is a flowering plant native to eastern and southeastern Europe, from Austria south to Greece, and east to the Crimea, and also in southwestern Asia east to the Caucasus and Alborz mountains....
, which dies back to the root system in winter. Vinca will spread extremely fast.

The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s, produced through most of the year, are salverform (like those of Phlox
Phlox

Phlox is a genus of 67 species of Annual plant or perennial plant flowering plants. Some species flower in early Spring while others flower in summer into fall....
), simple, 2.5-7 cm (1-3 inches) broad, with five usually violet (occasionally white) petals joined together at the base to form a tube. The fruit

Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
consists of a group of divergent follicles

Follicle (fruit)

In botany, a follicle is a dry unilocular many-seeded fruit formed from one carpel and dehiscing by the ventral suture in order to release seeds, such as in larkspur, magnolia, banksia, peony and milkweed....
; a dry fruit which is dehiscent along one rupture site in order to release seeds.

Vinca Major (also known as big leaf periwinkle) is an ideal ground cover for mountain areas of moderate climate, such as in southern California (20 deg F to 90 deg F). It is fire retardant and relatively drought resistant. It will grow thick enough to mitigate erosion on hillsides and is invasive enough to choke out undesirable grass/brush, but not too invasive to control. It grows very well in shaded to semi-shaded areas without irrigation, and will grow fine in direct sunlight if watered occasionally (though may wilt in temperatures above 85 deg F). It goes dormant in the winter and will "lay down" after a freeze, but will not die even when covered with snow for an extended period. It will return up to 18 in. tall by the beginning of summer, then slow down as the temperatures increase. With the exception of boundary control where necessary and light watering when desired, Vinca Major requires absolutely no maintenance, and will thrive even at elevations over 6000 ft.