iii: Herb of the Month
Periwinkle (Vinca major and Vinca minor) Marianne Hughes, with illustration by Hazel Brady Both Vinca major (Greater Periwinkle) and Vinca minor (Lesser Periwinkle) provide yearround, evergreen, low-growing ground cover, with the added advantage of beautiful blue, violet or white flowers which can often appear in winter, though more usually in March and April. These plants are not to be confused with Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) which is widely used for its anti-cancer properties. Though they are related, and both contain alkaloids, the cytotoxic dimeric alkaloids present in the Madagascar Periwinkle have not been found in V. major (Wren, 1994). The Latin for Periwinkle was pervinca, derived from vincire, meaning ‘to bind’, because its long trailing shoots can be used to make wreaths. Indeed, Kelleher (2020) notes: ‘In Italy, she is called fiore di morte (flower of death), because it was common to lay wreaths of the evergreen on the graves of dead children.’ But Periwinkle also has other names and entirely other associations: you might know her by one of her more fabulous monikers, like sorcerer’s violet or fairy’s paintbrush…The flower is sometimes associated with marriage (and may have been the ‘something blue’ in the traditional wedding rhyme), sometimes associated with sex work (because of its supposed aphrodisiac properties) and also with executions (ibid.) Unlikely as it would seem, Bown (2008) even cites one medieval spell that recommends Periwinkle mashed with earthworms and Sempervivum tectorum as a love potion for married couples. Culpeper (1653) adds: Venus owns this herb. It is a great binder, and stays bleeding at the mouth and nose, if it be chewed. It is good female medicine….an infusion is good to stay the menses. It is good in nervous disorders; the young tops
made into a conserve is good for the night-mare. Indeed, Allen and Hatfield (2004) outline a lengthy medicinal history of Periwinkle. This includes widespread reference to Periwinkle as ‘Cutfinger’ since, in parts of England, the crushed or infused leaves were applied to minor cuts and sores, and to bruises and persistent skin irritations in the Scottish Highlands. They comment further that the leaves have a sedative effect when chewed and were valued in Devon for nervous disorders and for sufferers of nightmares, and in Oxfordshire for toothache. Periwinkle also had a reputation for keeping away cramp, though these remedies take different forms— from a decoction of the stem to be drunk, to the winding of the stem around the afflicted part of the body (ibid.).
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