Herb of the Month

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.).

The active constituents of V. major are alkaloids and tannins, the latter providing its astringency. Pengelly (2004) notes that plant alkaloids usually have profound physiological actions in humans, most prominently on the nervous system. For example, V. major contains reserpine, the action of which lowers high blood pressure. V. major and V. minor both contain numerous other alkaloids including vincamine, majdine, and majoridine— all of which are antihemorrhagic and astringent. This would confirm Culpeper’s observations, although whether Pengelly would concur with Culpeper’s astrological assertions is doubtful. More recently, vincamine has been used to develop the semi-synthetic derivative pharmaceutical drug known as Vinpocetine. Whilst a preliminary study of Vinpocetine on people with Alzheimer's disease showed no benefit, a later double-blind trial showed vincamine itself to be beneficial (WebMD, 2018).

So, whether you are looking for useful evergreen ground cover or a useful remedy for a sore mouth, Periwinkle may just be the answer. But be warned— those trailing shoots spread so successfully Periwinkle can be experienced as an invasive plant.

References

Allen, D.E. and Hatfield, G. (2004) Medicinal; Plants in Folk Tradition: An Ethnobotany of Britain and Ireland. Timber Press: London Bown, D. (2008) Encyclopaedia of Herbs. Royal Horticultural Society, Dorling Kindersley: London

Culpeper, N. (1653) Culpeper’s Complete Herbal: consisting of A comprehensive description of nearly all herbs with their medicinal properties and directions for compounding the medicines extracted from them. Foulsham and Co.: Slough

Hoffman, D. (2002) Holistic Herbal. Thorsons: London Kelleher, K. (2020) ‘Periwinkle; the Color of Poison, Modernism, and Dusk’, in The Paris Review (August 19th, 2020) accessed online, 10.2.2022.

Pengelly, A. (2004) The Constituents of Medicinal Plants: An introduction to the chemistry and therapeutics of herbal medicine. CABI Publishing: Oxfordshire WebMD (2018) ‘Vinpocetine— Uses, Side Effects, and More’, accessed online, 18.2.2022 Wren, R.C. (1994) Potter’s New Cyclopaedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations. C.W. Daniel: Saffron Walden