Israel native plants: Herbaceous Periwinkle

Vinca herbacea, Vinca pumila, Vinca mixta, Herbaceous Periwinkle,
וינקה עשבונית


Scientific name:		Vinca herbacea Waldst. & Kit
Scientific name:		Vinca pumila E.D.Clarke, Vinca mixta Velen.
Common name:		Herbaceous Periwinkle
Hebrew name:		וינקה עשבונית
Family:		Apocynaceae, הרדופיים


Life form:		Hemicryptophyte
Stems:		Up to 45 cm; trailing vine, spreading along the ground and rooting along the stems
Leaves:		Opposite, lanceolate, entire margin
Flowers:		Violet, dark blue
Fruits / pods:		Follicle
Flowering Period:		March, April, May
Habitat:		Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:		Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:		Euro-Siberian – Med – Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:		Ephemeral

Derivation of the botanical name:

Vinca, Latin vincire,’to bind’, as the plant grows over everything in its area, or vincere, ‘to overcome’, after the plant’s ability to help one overcome illness.

herbacea, not woody.
periwinkle,from Latin pervincire “to entwine, bind,” from per- “thoroughly” + vincire “to bind, fetter.”
The Hebrew name: וינקה, vinca, transliteration from the scientific name Vinca.

The standard author abbreviation Waldst. is used to indicate Franz de Paula Adam von Waldstein (1759 – 1823), , an Austrian soldier, explorer and naturalist.
The standard author abbreviation Kit. is used to indicate Pál Kitaibel (1757 – 1817), a Hungarian botanist and chemist.
The standard author abbreviation E.D.Clarke is used to indicate Edward Daniel Clarke (1769 – 1822), an English naturalist, mineralogist and traveller.
The standard author abbreviation Velen. is used to indicate Josef Velenovský (1858– 1949) , a Czech botanist, mycologist, pteridologist, and bryologist.

Pliny the Elder(23 – 79 CE), Natural History, book XXI,68: “But the vicapervica is an evergreen, surrounded by leaves at the joints after the manner of the scarecrow cord, a plant for the fancy garden, but at times filling the gap when others fail. This plant is called chamaedaphne (Ground-laurel) by the Greeks”.
Lucius Apuleius (c. 125 – c. 180), a Latin prose writer: “I pray thee, vinca pervinca, thee that art to be had for thy many useful qualities, that thou come to me glad blossoming with thy mainfulness, that thou outfit me so that I be shielded and prosperous and undamaged by poisons and water.”
William Wordsworth (1770-1850), English poet:

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower, The periwinkle trailed its wreaths; And ’tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

_{Location: Pura Nature Reserve, שמורת פורה}