Vinca

For other uses, see Vinca (disambiguation).

Vinca (from Latin vincire "to bind, fetter") is a genus of five species in the family Apocynaceae, that grows in Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. The common name, shared with the related genus Catharanthus, is Periwinkle.

Vinca
Giant Steps Periwinkle (Vinca major) plant
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Apocynaceae
Genus:	Vinca L.
Species
Vinca balcanica Vinca difformis Vinca herbacea Vinca major Vinca minor

Large Periwinkle (Vinca major) flower

They are subshrubs or herbaceous, and have slender 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, so the plant can spread widely

Vinca Media

• 

  Vinca difformis in habitat, Cáceres, Spain

• 

  Vinca plants spreading along a border

References

• Blamey, M., & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. Hodder & Stoughton.
• Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening 4: 664-665. Macmillan.

• 

  Vinca minor (above), Vinca major (below); leaves for comparison

• 

  Vinca minor (above), Vinca major (below); leaf margins for comparison; note hairless margin of V. minor, hairy margin of V. major

Other websites

• Flora Europaea: Vinca
• Virtual Flowers Vinca Archived 2007-08-30 at the Wayback Machine