CHAP. LXXVII. APOCYNA‘CEA. Vi’NCA. 1255 
Description, §c. The periwinkle is a trailing evergreen, which produces its 
beautiful blue flowers all the summer, and is admirably adapted tor covering 
the dug ground in shrubberies, 
and the banks of hedgerows, as 
it prefers a shady situation. It is 
supposed to have been known to 
the Greeks, and to be the plant that 
was called by them Klematis, from 
its creeping branches; it being 
thought that the Klematis daph- 
noides of Dioscorides was the same 
as the Vinca Pervinca of Pliny. 
_- It is found wild in the forests of 
1082 France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, 
and other parts of Europe; and 
is more abundant in Britain than V. minor, though both are supposed to have 
become naturalised, rather than to be really indigenous. In the middle ages, 
many curious medical virtues were attributed to this plant; the most amusing 
of which is that mentioned by Culpepper, that “ The leaves of the periwinkle, 
eaten by man and wife together, do cause love between them.” The principal 
use of the plant, in modern times, is to cover the dug ground of shrubberies ; 
but, in France, a beautiful fence for flower-gardens is frequently made of it, by 
training its branches over low palisades or espaliers, taking care to tie them 
in different places; as, wherever the plant is left at liberty, it will root into 
the ground. In some parts of Italy, these fences are called centocchio, or 
hundred eyes ; a name also given to the flower: but in some other parts of 
that country the periwinkle is called fiore di morte, from the custom which 
_ evails of making garlands of it for dead children. The French call it violette 
des sorciers, from an ancient prejudice that it was used by sorcerers in their 
incantations. The ancient name of this flower, in England, was pervinke; 
and it is spoken of under that name by Chaucer: — 

‘* There sprange the violet al newe, 
And fresh pervinké, rich of hewe.” 
Few modern British poets seem to have mentioned it, probably from the 
inharmoniousness and unmanageableness of its modern name. Wordsworth, 
however, says,— 
** Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower, 
The fair periwinkle trailed its wreaths ; 
And ’t is my faith that every flower 
Enjoys the air that breathes.” 
Rousseau’s anecdote of this flower is well known. He tells us that he was 
walking with Madame de Warens, at Charmettes, when she suddenly ex- 
claimed, “ There is the periwinkle still in flower.” Rousseau, being short- 
sighted, had never before observed this flower, which always grows near the 
ground; and, stooping down, he gazed at it with pleasure. He did not see 
it again for 30 years; when, being at Gressier, and climbing a hill, with M. 
Peyrou, he observed something blue among the bushes; and, stooping down 
to examine it, he uttered, with a cry of joy, ‘* Voila la pervenche!” and all 
the tender emotions of the moment when he first saw it rushed back upon his 
mind. Hence the plant, in France, is consecrated “ Awa dour souvenirs ;” 
and is generally planted near a monumental urn, or other ornament or build- 
ing, dedicated to the remembrance of a friend. The propagation of the peri- 
winkle is very easy ; as, though it is seldom raised from seeds, yet the trailing 
stems of the plant take root freely; chiefly at their tips, or points, in the same 
manner as those of the bramble or the strawberry. The plant may also be 
increased by dividing it at the roots. The periwinkle, when wanted to pro- 
duce ripe seeds, does best when planted in a pot with very little earth, and 
the lateral shoots cut off. 
* 4N 5 
