Evergreen

This article describes the plant genus evergreen; for evergreen plants see there.

Evergreen
Great periwinkle ( Vinca major )
Systematics
Euasterids I Order : Enzianartige (Gentianales) Family : Dog poison family (Apocynaceae) Subfamily : Rauvolfioideae Tribe : Vinceae Genre : Evergreen
Scientific name
Vinca
L.

Evergreen ( Vinca ) is a genus of plants from the dog venom family (Apocynaceae).

The botanical genus name is derived from the Latin vinca pervinca , from pervincire for to wind around , to make wreaths; in terms of the long pliable stems.

features

Leaves of Vinca major (below) and Vinca minor (above).

The Vinca species are perennial herbaceous plants to subshrubs . Contrary to the generic name, not all Vinca species are evergreen: The herbaceous evergreen loses its leaves in winter and is therefore deciduous. They have stolons and a watery, clear milky sap . The oppositely arranged, short-stalked leaves are simple and have entire margins.

The flowers are usually individually in the leaf axils, or rarely in pairs in zymous inflorescences. The hermaphrodite, radially symmetrical flowers are five-fold. The chalice is small. The five blue, purple or white petals are fused tubular. The inner surface of the corolla tube is hairy or there are scales. The corolla lobes are shorter than the corolla tube and overlap. There is only one circle with five stamens ; they are fused with the corolla tube, but free from one another. Two carpels have become a top permanent ovary grown. The stylus are thread-shaped. Two follicles develop from each fertilized flower ; they are 35 to 40 mm long and contain four to eight seeds. The seeds are shiny.

Medium periwinkle ( Vinca difformis )

Herbaceous periwinkle ( Vinca herbacea )

Small periwinkle ( Vinca minor )

distribution

The genus is common from Europe to Western Asia. It is one of the two Central European genera of the dog poison family, which is particularly widespread in the tropics .

use

Two species are used as ornamental plants in parks and gardens and easily grow wild.

The small periwinkle ( Vinca minor ), which is an old folk medicinal plant and is still used in homeopathy today, is known above all . Vinca alkaloids from Catharanthus roseus are used as cytostatics .

Types (selection)

There are five to seven (to twelve) species in the genus Evergreen ( Vinca ). Here is a selection:

• Medium periwinkle ( Vinca difformis Pourr. ), With the subspecies:
  • Vinca difformis subsp. difformis
  • Vinca difformis subsp. sardoa stearn
• Upright periwinkle ( Vinca erecta Regel & Schmalh. ): It occurs from Central Asia to northeast Afghanistan.
• Herbaceous periwinkle ( Vinca herbacea Waldst. & Kit. )
• Small periwinkle ( Vinca minor L. )
• Large periwinkle ( Vinca major L. ), with the subspecies:
  • Vinca major subsp. balcanica (Pénzes) Kozuharov & AVPetrova
  • Vinca major subsp. hirsuta (Boiss.) Stearn
  • Vinca major subsp. major
• Vinca soneri Koyuncu : The species first described in 2012 occurs in Turkey.

Some species that were formerly classified by Vinca now belong to Catharanthus , including the medicinally important Madagascar periwinkle . Different varieties of Catharanthus are cultivated as bedding and balcony plants with different flower colors.

history

Sources for medical use

• Antiquity - Late Antiquity: Dioscurides 1st century --- Pliny 1st century --- Galen 2nd century --- Pseudo-Apuleius 4th century
• Latin Middle Ages: Konrad von Megenberg 14th century --- Garden of Health 1485 --- Hieronymus Brunschwig 1500
• Modern times: Otto Brunfels 1532 --- Hieronymus Bock 1539 --- Leonhart Fuchs 1543 --- Mattioli / Handsch / Camerarius 1586 --- Nicolas Lémery 1699/1721 --- Onomatologia medica completa 1755

Historical illustrations

• 

  Pseudo-Apuleius Leiden 6th century

• 

  Garden of Health 1485

• 

  Otto Brunfels 1532

• 

  Leonhart Fuchs 1543

• 

  Hieronymus Bock 1546

• 

  Mattioli / Handsch / Camerarius 1586

swell

• Description in the Flora of China , (Eng.)
• Description in the Western Australian Flora , (Eng.)
• Manfred A. Fischer , Wolfgang Adler, Karl Oswald: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol. 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2005, ISBN 3-85474-140-5 .
• Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany. A botanical-ecological excursion companion to the most important species. 6th, completely revised edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2005, ISBN 3-494-01397-7 .

Web links

Commons : Evergreen ( Vinca )  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Wiktionary: Evergreen  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Entry at Plants for a Future (Engl.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. Birkhäuser, Basel / Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-7643-0755-2 , p. 383.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Vinca - World Checklist of Selected Plant Families of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Last accessed on November 12, 2017.
3. ↑ Pedanios Dioscurides . 1st century De Medicinali Materia libri quinque. Translation. Julius Berendes . Pedanius Dioscurides' medicine theory in 5 books. Enke, Stuttgart 1902, p. 369 (Book IV, Chapter 7): Klematis (digitized version )
4. ↑ Pliny the Elder , 1st century. Naturalis historia Book XXI, Chapter XXXIX (§ 68): Vicapervica (digitized version ) ; Translation Külb 1855 (digitized version ) . - Chapter XCIX, (§172): Vicapervica (digitized) ; Translation Külb 1855 (digitized version )
5. ↑ Galen , 2nd century De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis ac facultatibus , book VII, chapter X / 31 (based on the edition Kühn 1826, volume XII, p. 31): Clematis (digitized version)
6. ↑ First printing: Rome 1481, Chapter 60: Herba victoriola (digitized version )
7. ↑ Konrad von Megenberg , 14th century book of nature. Output. Franz Pfeiffer . Aue, Stuttgart 1861, p. 422 (V / 78): Singrüen (digitized version )
8. ↑ Gart der Gesundheit . Mainz 1485, Chapter 79: Berwinca syngrun (digitized version )
9. ↑ Hieronymus Brunschwig . Small distilling book , Strasbourg 1500, sheet 63v – 64r: Ingrüen (digital copy )
10. ↑ Otto Brunfels . Contrafayt Kreüterbůch . Johann Schott, Strasbourg 1532, p. 101: Yngryen (digitized version )
11. ↑ Hieronymus Bock . New Kreütter Bůch . Wendel Rihel, Strasbourg 1539, Part I, Chapter 130: Yngrün (digitized version )
12. ↑ Leonhart Fuchs . New Kreütterbuch… Michael Isingrin, Basel 1543, Chapter 135: Syngrüen (digitized version )
13. ^ Pietro Andrea Mattioli . Commentarii, in libros sex Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei, de medica materia. Translation by Georg Handsch, edited by Joachim Camerarius the Younger , Johan Feyerabend, Franckfurt am Mayn 1586, sheet 325v – 326r: Periwinkle (digitized)
14. ↑ Nicolas Lémery . Dictionnaire universel des drogues simples. , Paris 1699, pp. 584-585: Pervinca (digitized) ; Translation. Complete material lexicon. Initially drafted in French, but now after the third edition, which has been enlarged by a large [...] edition, translated into high German / By Christoph Friedrich Richtern, [...]. Leipzig: Johann Friedrich Braun, 1721, Sp. 859–860: Pervinca (digitized version )
15. ^ Albrecht von Haller (editor). Onomatologia medica completa or Medicinisches Lexicon which explains all names and artificial words which are peculiar to the science of medicine and pharmacists art clearly and completely [...]. Gaumische Handlung, Ulm / Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1755, Sp. 1323: Vinca pervinca (digitized version )