Common Name:
Periwinkle
Creeping Myrtle
About 6 species of low growing, evergreen subshrubs or herbaceous perennials. Leaves are opposite and entire. Flowers solitary, long stalked, 5-lobed to 5-parted. Native range from Europe, north Africa, to central Asia.
Vinca: after the Latin name vinca pervinca, from vincio, to bind, a reference to the use of the shoots in wreaths; apparently also the origin of the modern English name (periwinkle) from the Middle English per wynke.
Pronunciation:
VING-ka
Family:
Apocynaceae