70 T AMI LIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



more erect than in the smaller periwinkle; and the 

 leaves of the present species are considerably broader in 

 proportion to their length than in the other plant, in the 

 one case the foliage being- what is botanically termed 

 ovate, i.e., approximate to the shape of an egg, while in 

 the other they are lanceolate, a form more resembling that 

 of the head of a lance or spear. The larger periwinkle is 

 as large again in all its parts as the smaller. Both 

 species flower in the spring, and last for some consider- 

 able time in fact, there are few weeks in the year 

 when some stray blossoms may not be met with, though 

 April, May, and June may more especially be considered 

 the flowering season. In our botanical diary we find a 

 note to the effect that we were able to gather some of the 

 flowers on the 1st of January. The flowers vary somewhat 

 in intensity of colour, but the specimen illustrated in our 

 plate may be considered a very fairly typical one. The 

 curious form of the corolla must not be overlooked. It is 

 composed of five similar parts, as in the case of the silver- 

 weed, -depicted in a preceding plate ; but, unlike that and 

 most other flowers, these parts or segments are not capable 

 in the periwinkle of an equal division by an imaginary line 

 drawn from their apex to the centre of the flower. In 

 some few other flowers, as in the St. John's wort, we see 

 this same peculiarity, but it is very exceptional. The 

 great majority of flowers have their petals or segments 

 bisymmetrjcal in form ; a line from apex to base would 

 divide each into two similar parts. 



The .periwinkle is very commonly met with in woods 

 and hedgerows, and when found at all, is generally in great 

 profusion ; and we can readily call to mind an embankment 

 not half a mile from where we are now writing where a 



