Vinca minor. Small Periwinkle. 



VINCA Lin. Gen. PL Pentandria Monogynia. 



Rait Syn. Gen. iy Herb#: multisiliqu;e seu coRNicuLATiE. 

 VINCA minor caulibus procumbentibus, foliis lanceolato ovatis, floribus pedunculatis. Lin. Sx/i. 



tab. p. 209. Sp. PL 304. 

 PERVINCA caulibus procumbentibus, foliis ovato lanceolatis, petiolis unifloris. Haller. hill C72 

 CLEMATIS daphnoides minor. B. Pin. 301. J ' d/ ' 



VINCA PERVINCA minor. Ger. emac. 894. 

 VJNCA PERVINCA vulgaris. Parkins. 380. Raii Syn. p. 268. Periwinkle. 



Hud/on FL Angl. ed. 2. p. 91. Lightfoot FL Scot. p. 147. 



RADIX perennis, repens, fibrofa. ¥ 



CAULES floriferi erecti, limplices, dodrantales, aut pe- | 



dales, in fepibus etiam, vepris fuftentati ad t 



altitudinem humanam quandoque evehuntur, | 



debiles, teretes, glabri, utrinque fulco obfo- ^ 



lete notati, peratta florefcentia humi repent, t 



ROOT perennial, creeping and fibrous. 

 STALKS producing the flowers, are upright, fimple, 

 from nine inches to a foot in height, and fome- 

 times in hedges fupported by the bufhes, 

 they are raifed to the height of fix feet, weak, 

 round, fmooth, marked on each fide with a 

 groove faintly impreffed, when out of bloom 

 p creeping on the ground. 



FOLIA oppofita, , petiolata, petiolisfolns ipfis quadruplo | LEAVES oppofite, Handing on footftalks four times 

 brevioribus, fempervirentia, liguftrina, ovato- | 



lanceolata, glabra, margine integerrima, nuda ; $ 



in caulibus floriferis lastius virentia. 



ihorter than the leaves themfelves, evergreen, 

 fomewhat like thofe of Privet, oval, and 

 pointed, fmooth and mining, the edge per- 

 fectly entire, and naked, thofe on the flower- 

 ing ftalks of the moft lively colour. 

 THE FLOWERING STALK produces one or two 

 handfome flowers, fometimes more, of a blue 

 or purple colour, with a white eye, and much 

 difpofed to be double. 



CAULIS FLORIFERUS unicum aut duos flores, etiam 

 plures aliquando producit, caeruleos, purpu- 

 reosve, pulchellos, ocello albo, ad plenitudinem 

 pronos. 

 PEDUNCULI uniflori, axillares, alterni, fuberedi, i FLOWER-STALKS fupporting one flower, axillary, 

 foliis duplo fere longiores,. teretes, glabri, pur- | alternate, nearly upright, almoft twice the 



purafcentes. length of the leaves, round, fmooth and min- 



ing. 

 CALYX: a Perianthium deeply divided into five 

 fegments, three times Ihorter than the corolla, 

 permanent, the fegments upright, pointed 

 and fmooth. Jig. 1. 

 COROLLA monopetala, hypocrateriformis ; Tubus in- | COROLLA monopetalous, falver-fhaped ; Tube below 



CALYX: Perianthium quinquepartitum, tubo co- 

 rollas triplo brevior, perfiftens, laciniis erec- 

 tis, ac-utis, glabris. fig. i. 



feme cylindraceus, fuperne latior, lineis quin- | 



que iufculptus, rigidulus, externe nitidus, in- % 



terne villofus ; Limbus horizontalis, quinque- | 



partitus, laciniis apici tubi adnatis, extror- $ 



fum latioribus, oblique truncatis. % 



STAMINA: Fil amenta quinque, brevifiima, in- % 

 fiexa, retroflexa, luperne dilatata; Antherje | 

 membranaceae, obtulas, incurvae, pilofae, mar- | 

 gine utrinque fariniferae. fig. 9. 10. % 



PIST1LLUM: Germina duo, fubiotunda, compreffa I 

 corpufculis duobus ad latera, nitidis, longitu- ■% 

 dine germinum ; Stylus obverfe conicus, f 

 longitudine ftaminum ; Stigmata duo, in- 

 ferius orbiculatum, planum, margine vifci- 

 dum, fuperius capitatum, pilofum, albiffi- 

 mum.fig. 3. 4- 5- 6 - 7- :I - 



cylindrical, above fpreading, having five 

 grooves, fomewhat rigid, externally mining, 

 internally villous; Limb horizontal, deeply 

 divided into five fegments, which appear to 

 grow to the top of the tube, externally 

 broadeff and cut off obliquely. 



STAMINA : five Filaments, very fhort, bent in, 

 and afterwards back again, dilated above; 

 Anthers membranous, blunt, bent in, hairy, 

 producing its farina on each fide of the edge. 



PISTILLUM: Germina two, roundifh, fomewhat 

 flattened at the fides by two mining corpuf- 

 cles of the length of the germina ; Style 

 inverfely conical, the length of the flamina ; 

 Stigmata two, the lowermoft orbicular, 

 flat, and clammy on the edge, the uppermofi 

 forming a little tuft of very white hairs. 



WHOEVER looks into the tube of this flower with any degree of attention, muft be ftruck with the wifdom 

 {hewn in the formation of the parts contained within it ; in all the plants I have feen I do not recollect any greater 

 inftance of care taken to preferve the tender parts of the fructification, each Anthera is terminated by a membrane 

 which bends over at top, and the membranes of all the Antherae clofing together, effectually feclude every thing 

 which might injure the parts of the fructification below them, diftinguiihed not lefs by the delicacy than the An- 

 gularity of their ftructure. The filaments in their fhape fomewhat refemble a note of interrogation, the Anthers 

 in their ftruclure are very fimilar to thofe of the violet, and open inwardly in the fame manner : the fryle which 

 in moft flowers is broader! at top is here flendereft ; they are two in number, but fo clofely united, that, without 

 a magnifier, the diviiion is fcarce to be perceived ; the ftigmata, according to Linnaeus, are two in number ; it is 

 moft probable, however, that the lowermoft, which is flat with a glutinous edge, and which forms a kind of ring 

 round the ftyles, is the true ftigma ; the top is a little elevated above the ftigma, and appears like a round white 

 ball, which, when magnified, is found to confift of a number of hairs diverging from one center, in the microf- 

 cope it is a very pleafing fight ; the ripe feed vefl'el of this plant I have not been able to difcover ; they are moft 

 probably rarely produced. 



This fpecies of Periwinkle varies much in the colour of its bloflbms, which are fometimes purple, fometimes of 

 a pale blue colour, and fometimes white; in the gardens it "is alio fold with divers forts of variegated foliage and 

 double bloflbms. 



At the foot of a fhelter'd hedge expofed to the morning fun, it flourifhes very much, efpecially if the foil be 

 moift, and affords a very pretty ornamental flower in the ipring months, nor is it fb fugacious as many, but will 

 continue in bloflbm a month or fix weeks. 



It may probably be found wild in divers places about London ; as yet, however, 1 have noticed it in one fpot 

 only, viz. in the hedge of a field on the left hand fide of Lordihip Lane near Dulwich, where it had every ap^ 

 pearance of being in a wild ftate. 



