Periwinkle

One of the most delightful little flowers to me in the springtime is the Periwinkle. There are three different flowers in the same family by that name, but the ones we have are of the genus Vinca — both Vinca major and Vinca minor, although the latter is more abundant in our yard. The plants are small and spread easily to create a great ground cover. The two species in the genus Vinca are native to parts of Europe, northwest Africa, and the Middle East.

The leaves stay green all year long, but the little flowers only appear from mid-spring through early summer. Some species will bloom again, erratically, during the summertime if conditions warrant. Depending on species and soil conditions, the flowers can appear bluish or blue-violet, lending their name to the "periwinkle" crayon in art boxes, as the lovely specimen shown above. However, some flowers can also appear more purplish, as the one shown below.

Besides the genus Vinca, another flower in the same biogical family (Apocynaceae) is the Rosy Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus), so called because of the pinker color than the Vinca genus of periwinkles. This plant is endemic to the island of Madagascar, off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. Several natural chemicals can be extracted from the plant that are useful in fighting various cancers as well as diabetes and malaria.