VINCA 



This is the first out-of-door flower in many country 

 gardens where builds have no place ; and its lovely blue 

 flowers among the clean, glossy leaves, smiHng upward 

 to the sky, have an especial charm in the early April 

 days. Country people know 

 the plant chiefly as Myrtle 

 and Periwinkle ; in city parks 

 and gardens it covers the 

 ground as Vinca; PHny knew 

 it in Roman times as Per- 

 vinca. Why the French call 

 it Flower-of-Mystery is by 

 no means clear, but the rea- 

 son of the English name, 

 Joy-of-the-Ground, is ap- 

 parent to any one. The value 

 of the plant lies chiefly in 

 its hardy nature and trailing 

 growth and the fact that it 

 will flourish and make a 

 green carpet under the cover 

 of trees where little else will 

 grow. So closely do the sterile creeping stems cling to 

 the ground that the ancients named them serpents. 



The calyx of the blossom is cut into five deep seg- 

 ments; the corolla forms a long tube below, expanding 

 into a flat, five-lobed border above. The flower pro- 

 duces both pollen and nectar, but rarely any fruit; 

 when it does it forms two little pods, each containing 

 three or four seeds. The reliance of the plant for re- 

 production is in the long runners which develop roots at 

 the nodes. It is now extensively used as a cover plant 

 in parks for shaded places where nothing else will grow. 



189 



Periwinkle. Vfnca minor 



