298 Apocynecz Vinca. 



1. VlNOA. 



Herbs OT evergreen trailing shrubs. Leaves opposite, entire, 

 glabrous and glossy. Flowers solitary, axillary, blue, white, or 

 purple. Calyx 5-lobed, lobes glandular inside at the base. 

 Corolla salver-shaped, the tube hairy within ; lobes oblique. 

 Stamens 5 ; anthers bearded. Disk biglandular. Carpels 2, 

 many-seeded ; seeds neither plumose nor winged. There are 

 about 10 species, occurring in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The 

 genus derives its name from vincere, to bind, the use made of 

 the flexible branches. 



1. V. major. Larger Periwinkle. A trailing shrub with 

 erect flowering-branches. Leaves ovate-cordate, ciliate. Flowers 

 large and showy, bright blue, appearing in the Spring ; calyx- 

 lobes ciliate. There are several varieties, but the one called 

 elegantissima., with beautifully variegated foliage, is the best. 

 This species is a native of Europe and North Africa, and is 

 occasionally found as a straggler from cultivation in Britain. 



2. V. minor. Lesser Periwinkle. This is smaller in all its 

 parts than the preceding. Leaves ovate-lanceolate or elliptical, 

 not ciliated on the margins. It blooms about the same time. 

 There are blue,- reddish purple, and white single- and double- 

 flowered varieties, and others with gold or silver variegated 

 foliage. This species is frequently met with growing wild in 

 England, though not usually considered as indigenous. It is 

 confined to Europe. 



3. V. herbacea. As the name implies this is of more her- 

 baceous habit and less vigorous growth. The foliage, too, is 

 less ample, and ovate or narrowly lanceolate, and rough on the 

 margins. Flowers more abundant, with narrower corolla- 

 lobes. A native of Hungary, flowering in Spring. 



2. AMSONIA. 



Perennial herbs with alternate leaves and terminal panicles 

 of pale blue flowers. Corolla-lobes narrow. Anthers naked. 

 Carpels or follicles long and narrow ; seeds naked. Other 

 characters the same as in Vinca. This genus consists of five 

 or six North American species, and was named after an American 

 traveller of some note. 



1. A. Taberncemontana, syn. A. latifdlia. An erect herb 

 with ovate-lanceolate shortly-stalked glabrous leaves and ter- 

 minal cymes of pale blue flowers appearing in Summer. 



