CHAP. LXXVII. 



^POCYNA^CE^. Kl'NCA. 



1255 



1082 



Description, Sfc. The periwinkle is a trailing evergreen, which produces its 

 beautiful blue flowers all the summer, and is admirably adapted for 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 



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 

 prevails 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 pervinkd, 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 " Aux doux 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. 



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