THE PERIWINKLE. Vinca; L. La pervenche; Fr. Das sinngrün; Ger. Maagdepalm; Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower, WORDSWORTH THIS pretty flower is by no means common in a wild state, though occasionally found upon banks and in bushy places. In Devonshire it is, perhaps, more frequently met with than in any other county. Its fibrous roots throw out stems which are at first erect, but soon becoming long and wiry, they trail on the ground, and take root towards the extremities, and by these means the plant is propagated in every direction. The leaves are opposite, with short channelled footstalks; they are evergreen, very smooth and shining, and of a lanceolate egg shape. The flowers spring singly from the axils of the leaves, on long footstalks; the corolla is salver-shaped, and the tube widening above, the limb is cut into five oblique truncated segments, which are folded together spirally before the flower has expanded; it is in colour either a violet, purple, or white. The Periwinkle cultivated in our gardens differs in no respect from that found in the fields. In a state of cultivation the leaves are sometimes variegated, and there is good reason for believing that the colour of the flower depends mainly upon the nature of the soil in which the plant is growing; for it has been determined by experiment, that strong healthy plants, with fine smooth deep-green leaves, and bearing rich purple flowers, growing in a good soil, will, when removed to poor soil of a sandy or gravelly nature, change their leaves and become variegated, while the flowers, gradually losing their purple dye, grow paler, until in a year or two they are quite white; and it is presumed that if they were again transplanted to a rich soil, they would in due time resume their green livery, and put on their primitive blossoms of purple. The Periwinkle is very useful for those parts of gardens where few flowers will grow; under the shade of trees, of lofty walls, or in more open places where the sun never comes, and almost in any atmosphere, this plant will thrive and put forth a succession of flowers nearly all the year round. "It has long been the custom," says Dr. Deakin, in his valuable work, "Florigraphia Britannica," "amongst the peasantry in Italy, to wreathe the brow, and, indeed, the whole body of unmarried persons, both men and women, as well as children, with this plant, intermixing with it various other evergreens, and flowers of different kinds, forming gay garlands, and placing upon the breast a large bunch of the finest flowers that the season will afford; dressing, in fact, the whole body in a vegetable garment, composed of the richest productions of Flora that they can meet with. This practice is still followed, especially amongst the peasantry in the province of Tuscany; and we think it most probable that the generic name of Vinca has been given to it from the circumstance of their using it to bind the bodies of their dead." The name of this plant has been considered of doubt ful etymology. It was called by the Anglo Saxons perwince. In Norman French it was called pervinke, as we learn from Chaucer. There sprang the violet all newe And fresh pervinke, rich of hewe, There lacked no floure to my dome, Ne floure more that men can on thinke. But the following quotation from Vossius seems to set the matter at rest:-" Vinca pervinca, quia vireat semper, aerisque injurias vincat et pervincat." Vinca pervinca, because it is always green, and overcomes the injuries of the weather, from which we conclude that its name has been given to it on account of its always resisting the effects of the weather; and that by some peculiarities in the mode of pronouncing the word pervinca, it has become periwinkle. The power of resisting the influence of changing seasons has suggested the periwinkle as an emblem of the Christian, who has attained to that perfect reliance upon the goodness and providence of God, which enables him to stand unmoved by the "changes and chances of this mortal life:" "Thou freshest garland of the year, K |