''Vinca'' (;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

: ''vincire'' "to bind, fetter") is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

s in the family

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (from '' Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members ...

, native to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, northwest

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and southwest

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. The English name periwinkle is shared with the related genus ''

Catharanthus ''Catharanthus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae. Like the genus ''Vinca'', they are known commonly as periwinkles. There are eight known species. Seven are endemic to Madagascar,mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is est ...

, ''

Littorina littorea The common periwinkle or winkle (''Littorina littorea'') is a species of small edible whelk or sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc that has gills and an operculum, and is classified within the family Littorinidae, the periwinkles.Reid, David ...

'').

Description

''Vinca'' plants are subshrubs or

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition o ...

, and have slender trailing stems long but not growing more than above ground; the stems frequently take root where they touch the ground, enabling the plant to spread widely. The

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

are opposite, simple broad lanceolate to ovate, long and broad; they are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

in four species, but

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

in the herbaceous '' V. herbacea'', which dies back to the root system in winter.Blamey, M., & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). ''Flora of Britain and Northern Europe''. Hodder & Stoughton.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening'' 4: 664-665. Macmillan. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanis ...

s, produced through most of the growing season, are salverform (like those of '' Phlox''), simple, broad, with five usually violet (occasionally white) petals joined together at the base to form a tube. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

consists of a pair of divergent follicles; the dry fruit dehisces along one rupture site to release seeds.

Gardens

Two of the species, ''

Vinca major ''Vinca major'', with the common names bigleaf periwinkle, large periwinkle, greater periwinkle and blue periwinkle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, native to the western Mediterranean. Growing to tall and spreading i ...

'' and ''

Vinca minor ''Vinca minor'' (common names lesser periwinkle or dwarf periwinkle) is a species of flowering plant in the dogbane family, native to central and southern Europe, from Portugal and France north to the Netherlands and the Baltic States, east to ...

'', are extensively cultivated as a flowering evergreen

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

. Because the plants are low and spread quickly, they are often used as

groundcover Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows over an area of ground. Groundcover provides protection of the topsoil from erosion and drought. In an ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as ...

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

landscapes and

container garden Container gardening or pot gardening/farming is the practice of growing plants, including edible plants, exclusively in containers instead of planting them in the ground. A container in gardening is a small, enclosed and usually portable object ...

s. They are also traditionally used in older cemeteries as an evergreen maintenance-free ground cover. Many

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s are available, with different plant, leaf, and flower colors, sizes, and habits.

Invasive plant species

Although attractive, both ''Vinca major'' and ''Vinca minor'' may be invasive in some regions where they are

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

because the rapid spreading chokes out

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is eq ...

species and alters

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s. Areas affected include parts of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, especially coastal

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Medicinal use

The vinca alkaloids include at least 86

alkaloids Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar ...

extracted from plants in the genus ''Vinca''. The

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemother ...

agent

vincristine Vincristine, also known as leurocristine and marketed under the brand name Oncovin among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of types of cancer. This includes acute lymphocytic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, Hodgkin's ...

is extracted from a closely related species, '' Catharanthus roseus'', and is used to treat some leukemias, lymphomas, and childhood cancers, as well as several other types of cancer and some non-cancerous conditions. Vinblastine is a chemical analogue of

and is also used to treat various forms of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. Dimeric alkaloids such as vincristine and vinblastine are produced by the coupling the smaller indole alkaloids

vindoline Vindoline is a chemical precursor to vinblastine. Vindoline is formed through biosynthesis from Tabersonine. See also * Lochnericine Lochnericine is a major monoterpene indole alkaloid present in the roots of ''Catharanthus roseus''. It is al ...

and

catharanthine Catharanthine is a terpene indole alkaloid produced by the medicinal plant ''Catharanthus roseus'' and ''Tabernaemontana divaricata''. Catharanthine is derived from strictosidine, but the exact mechanism by which this happens is currently unknown ...

. In addition, the nootropic agent vincamine is derived from ''

''. Vinorelbine, a newer semi-synthetic chemotherapeutic agent, is used in the treatment of

non-small-cell lung cancer Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is any type of epithelial lung cancer other than small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC). NSCLC accounts for about 85% of all lung cancers. As a class, NSCLCs are relatively insensitive to chemotherapy, compared to s ...

and is prepared either from the

natural product A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical sy ...

s leurosine or

and

, in both cases by first preparing anhydrovinblastine.

Species

Accepted species: * '' Vinca difformis'' Pourr. – Azores, western and central Mediterranean * ''

Vinca erecta ''Vinca'' (; Latin: ''vincire'' "to bind, fetter") is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, native to Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. The English name periwinkle is shared with the related genus '' Catharanthus'' ( ...

'' Regel & Schmalh. – Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan * ''

Vinca herbacea ''Vinca herbacea'', with common name herbaceous periwinkle, is a flowering plant native to eastern and southeastern Europe, from Austria south to Greece, and east to the Crimea, and also in northern Western Asia, in the Caucasus and Alborz mount ...

'' Waldst. & Kit. – central, eastern and southeastern Europe; Middle East * '' Vinca ispartensis'' Koyuncu & Ekşi – Turkey * ''

'' L. – southern Europe, Turkey, Syria, Caucasus; introduced to and established in New Zealand, California, British Isles, central Europe, Ukraine, North Africa, south China, Canary Islands, Madeira, North America, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Costa Rica, Guatemala * ''

'' L. – central and southeastern Europe, Ukraine, Caucasus; introduced to and established in British Isles, Scandinavia, Portugal, Turkey, south China, North America, New Zealand * '' Vinca soneri'' Koyuncu – Turkey

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q220925, from2=Q18983665 Apocynaceae genera Groundcovers Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Rhizomatous plants Stoloniferous plants Subshrubs