Vinca Major1
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''Vinca'' (;
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
: ''vincire'' "to bind, fetter") is an Old World genus of
flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
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. Notable mem ...
, The English name periwinkle is shared with the related genus '' Catharanthus'' (and with the mollusc '' Littorina littorea''). Some ''Vinca'' species are cultivated but have also spread invasively. Additionally, some species have medicinal uses. The most widespread species is Vinca minor.


Description

''Vinca'' plants are
subshrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or undershrub is either a small shrub (e.g. prostrate shrubs) or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base (e.g. garden pink and florist's chrysanthemum). The term is often interch ...
s 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 of ...
, 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 a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...
are opposite, simple broad lanceolate to ovate, long and broad; they are
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...
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 Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
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 Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...
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 (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...
consists of a pair of divergent follicles; the dry fruit dehisces along one rupture site to release seeds.


Species

Accepted species: * '' Vinca difformis'' Pourr. – Azores, western and central Mediterranean * '' Vinca erecta'' Regel & Schmalh. – Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan * '' Vinca herbacea'' Waldst. & Kit. – central, eastern and southeastern Europe; Middle East * '' Vinca ispartensis'' Koyuncu & Ekşi – Turkey * ''
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 ...
'' 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 * '' Vinca minor'' 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


Distribution and habitat

The genus is native to
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, northwest
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
and southwest
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
.


Ecology

''
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'' 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 ther ...
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 equi ...
species and alters
habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...
s. Areas affected include parts of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, especially coastal
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
.


Cultivation

''Vinca major'' and ''V. minor'' 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 th ...
. Because the plants are low and spread quickly, they are often used as
groundcover Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows low over an area of ground, which protects the topsoil from erosion and drought. In a terrestrial ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as the ...
in
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 kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
s are available, with different plant, leaf, and flower colors, sizes, and habits.


Medicinal uses

The vinca alkaloids include at least 86 alkaloids extracted from plants in the genus ''Vinca''. The
chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...
agent
vincristine Vincristine, also known as leurocristine and sold 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 lym ...
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
vincristine Vincristine, also known as leurocristine and sold 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 lym ...
and is also used to treat various forms of cancer. Dimeric alkaloids such as vincristine and vinblastine are produced by the coupling the smaller indole alkaloids vindoline 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 unkn ...
. In addition, the
nootropic Nootropics ( or ) (colloquially brain supplements, smart drugs, cognitive enhancers, memory enhancers, or brain boosters) are chemical substances which purportedly improve cognitive functions, such as attention, memory, wakefulness, and self ...
agent vincamine is derived from ''V. minor''. Vinorelbine, a newer semi-synthetic chemotherapeutic agent, is used in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer 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 s ...
s leurosine or
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 unkn ...
and vindoline, in both cases by first preparing anhydrovinblastine.


References


External links

* {{Authority control Apocynaceae genera Groundcovers Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Rhizomatous plants Stoloniferous plants Subshrubs