PKRIWINKLL FAMILV 



ana sepals glabrous ; corolla i in. across, violet, with a tube 

 thrice as long as the calyx-lobes.- — ^^"oods, especially in the west 

 of England, where it often entirely coverk the ground with its 

 glossy leaves. A white variety occurs in Devonshire, and in gar- 

 dens it is often met with bearing ^■a^iegated leaves and double, 

 purple, blue, or white flow-ers. — Fl. March-^Tune. Perennial. 



2.* r. md]or (Greater Periwinkle). — A more erect plant, much 

 larger than the last, with the margins of-its leaves and sepals 

 minutely fringed, and the latter as long as the carolla-tube, is not 



VrN'r.\ MiVOR (^cJVi 



indigenous, occurring only near houses. — Fl. April, Maj-. Peren- 

 nial. 



Ord. L. Gextiaxe.e. — Gextl'x F.\milv 



An Order comprising between 400 and 500 sp-ecies, distributed 

 throughout all climates, from the regions of perpetual snow to the 

 hottest parts of South Anierica and India ; but mainly northern 

 and sub-alpine. Under the Equator they^do not occur below 

 7,850 feet above sea-level: in the Himalayas and in die Rocky 

 ^lountains species reach altitudes of i6,ocb feet : in southern 

 Europe Genlidiia prosirdta grow-s at 6,000-^9,000 feet above the 

 sea : on Behring's Straits and on the Straits of Magellan species 

 occur just above the level of the sea ; but the)- are very rare both in 

 the Arctic and Antarctic Regions. In South America and Xew 

 Zealand the prevailing colour cf the tiower is .;aid to be red, and 



