Vinca minor

Vinca minor
Vinca minor plant
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Apocynaceae
Genus:	Vinca
Species:	V. minor
Binomial name
Vinca minor L.

Vinca minor, Lesser periwinkle and Dwarf periwinkle, is a plant native to central and southern Europe, from Portugal and France north to the Netherlands and the Baltic States, and east to the Caucasus, and also in southwestern Asia in Turkey. Other vernacular names used in cultivation include Small periwinkle, Common periwinkle, and sometimes in the United States, Myrtle or Creeping myrtle ^[1], although this is misleading, as the name myrtle normally refers to the Myrtus species.

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

Description

Vinca minor is a trailing, viny subshrub, spreading along the ground and rooting along the stems to form large clonal colonies and occasionally scrambling up to 40 cm high but never twining or climbing. The leaves are evergreen, opposite, 2-4.5 cm long and 1-2.5 cm broad, glossy dark green with a leathery texture and an entire margin.

The flowers are solitary in the leaf axils and are produced mainly from early spring to mid summer but with a few flowers still produced into the autumn; they are violet-purple (pale purple or white in some cultivated selections), 2-3 cm diameter, with a five-lobed corolla. The fruit is a pair of follicles 2.5 cm long, containing numerous seeds.

The closely related species Vinca major is similar but larger in all parts, and also has relatively broader leaves with a hairy margin.

Cultivation and uses

Ground cover with dense growth

Gardens

The species is commonly grown as a groundcover in temperate gardens for its evergreen foliage, spring and summer flowers, ease of culture, and dense habit that smothers most weeds. The species has few pests or diseases outside its native range and is widely naturalised and classified as an invasive species in parts of North America [1].

Cultivars

There are numerous cultivars, with different flower colours and variegated foliage, including 'Argenteovariegata' (white leaf edges), 'Aureovariegata' (yellow leaf edges), 'Gertrude Jekyll' (white flowers), and 'Plena' (double flowers).

Medicinal

• Ethnomedically, the dried leaves, aerial parts, and in some cases the entire plant of Vinca, are used to enhance blood circulation, including that of the brain, enhance metabolism in the brain, and to treat cardiovascular disorders.

Vincamine is the pharmaceutical molecule responsible for Vinca's nootropic activity.

It should be noted that vinca minor "contains more than 50 alkaloids".^[2]

vincamine, reserpine, reserpinine, akuammicine, majdine, vinerine, ervine, vineridine, tombozine, vincamajine, vincanine and vincanidine, totaling 0.64% yield^[3]

vincamine, vincamone, apovincamine, vincaminol, and desoxyvincaminol^[4]

perivincine^[5]

Vinpocetine (brand names: Cavinton, Intelectol; chemical name: ethyl apovincaminate) is a semisynthetic derivative alkaloid of vincamine (sometimes described as "a synthetic ethyl ester of apovincamine"),[1] an extract from the periwinkle plant.

Color

The color name periwinkle is derived from the flower.

References

• Flora Europaea: Vinca minor distribution
• Morphology and ecology of Vinca minor (in Spanish)
• Borealforest: Vinca minor
• Vinca minor (from Ohio State University's Pocket Gardener)
• Common periwinkle (as an invasive species; includes photos)
• Blamey, M., & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. Hodder & Stoughton.
• Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening 4: 665. Macmillan.

Notes

1. ^ http://www2.eugeneweekly.com/2003/091103culture.html
2. ^ Khanavi, M.; Pourmoslemi, S.; Farahanikia, B.; Hadjiakhoondi, A.; Ostad, S. N. (2010). "Cytotoxicity ofVinca minor". Pharmaceutical Biology 48 (1): 96–100. doi:10.3109/13880200903046187. PMID 20645762.  edit
3. ^ Tulyaganov, T. S.; Nigmatullaev, A. M. (2000). Chemistry of Natural Compounds 36 (5): 540. doi:10.1023/A:1002820414086.  edit
4. ^ Smeyers, Y. G.; Smeyers, N. J.; Randez, J. J.; Hernandez-Laguna, A.; Galvez-Ruano, E. (1991). "A structural and pharmacological study of alkaloids of Vinca Minor". Molecular Engineering 1 (2): 153. doi:10.1007/BF00420051.  edit
5. ^ Farnsworth, N. R.; Draus, F. J.; Sager, R. W.; Bianculli, J. A. (2006). "Studies on Vinca major L. (Apocynaceae) I. Isolation of perivincine". Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association 49 (9): 589. doi:10.1002/jps.3030490908.  edit

External links

• Traditional Medicine Uses: Vinca minor