VINCAL. - PERIWINKLE
Scientific Description:
Low creeping, evergreen or deciduous perennial subshrubs or herbs. Leaves opposite. Flowers large, solitary in leaf axils on long pedicels. Corolla infundibular, lacking appendages in throat but with a zone of hairs above insertion of stamens and a low ridge connecting corolla lobes at base, lobes spreading. Stamens included, inserted c. halfway up corolla tube; filaments short, bent forward then back; anthers with flat flap-like appendage at apex. Disc glands 2. Seeds glabrous, oblong, not comose.
Reference:
Stearn WT (1978). Vinca L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 6: 161.
Public Description:
Vinca is a genus of flowering plants commonly known as “periwinkle” and is native to Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. There are approximately 5 species in the world and 4 species (5 taxa) in Türkiye. Two of the species, “bigleaf periwinkle (Vinca major L.)” and “lesser periwinkle (Vinca minor L.), are extensively cultivated as a flowering evergreen ornamental plant. Due to small and fast-spreading plant, it is used in landscaping as a floor covering. Many cultivars are available, with different plant, leaf, and flower - colors, sizes, and habits. The chemotherapy agent “vincristine” and “vinblastine” are extracted from “rosy periwinkle (Vinca rosea L. (current name Catharanthus roseus (L.) G.Don)), and is used to treat some leukemias, lymphomas, and childhood cancers. It also using for lowering blood pressure, lowering sugar levels for diabetics.
References:
Anonymous 1 (2015). http://www.gardenersnet.com/flower/vincaperiwinkle.htm/, Accessed date: 21.12.2015.
Anonymous 2 (2015). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinca/, Accessed date: 21.12.2015.
Anonymous 3 (2015). http://www.theplantlist.org/1.1/browse/A/Apocynaceae/Vinca/ Accessed date: 21.12.2015.
Güner A (2012). Vinca L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 84−85.
