THE PERIWINKLE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22513, 22 September 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE PERIWINKLE

(By Winifred Chapman)

The periwinkle is a flower for childhood days, fresh and lair as the morning, and gone as quickly. It is a flower of the woods, the companion of trees; the places it loves the best are banks of streams and shaded places under trees, where its long trailing stems can find roothold and wander alar undisturbed. Then one day in spring, the periwinkle flowers appear above the glossy leaves, like a dainty floral pattern painted on a green carpet. How lovely then becomes the lone, forgotten spot where the periwinkle grows! Like many another wild thing, it flees before the march of civilisation. The hand of the cultivator is hard on the, “children of the wocpds.” Where once it was common, it is known no more, for, charming as it is, the wild form is really a weed. Its name at once proclaims and condemns it. The fascinating word, periwinkle, is derived from two Latin words, meaning “all over.” and “to bind.” Another name, ground ivy, has been given to it, because of the way in which the trailing stems root where the nodules touch - the ground. Children used to call it blue buttons, an apt name, the fully expanded flowers being not unlike large ornamental buttons. . , , The beauty of the • periwinkle flowers is transient; each flower falls at the lightest touch. It will be noticed that the whol<# flower falls together, for it is really all in one, like an expanded funnel, and not composed of petals t which would fall separately. Another picturesque name, Flower-of-a-Hun-dred-Eyes, was suggested no doubt by the lighter ring of colour in the centre of each flower. Although the wild form, because of its aggressive habits, is not permissible in small gardens, it may be allowed into larger places with discretion. Sometimes there may be a plantation of old trees, where the periwinkle might be allowed to run a little wild. Not to be denied. however, remembrance of the beloved flower of their youth, gardeners have another little periwinkle. much more restrained m its manners. This has the same bright, glossy leaves .only the same thin wiry steins, but very much shorter, which root in exactly the same way, and small double flowers of a tender blue. Each little flower has a stem of its own, an inch or so long, and as the succession of them is prolonged, this is a useful little plant for a shaded slope beneath trees, or for holding a bank together. Therfe is another form of this with a wine-coloured flower, which is sometimes known as joy of the ground, and which must always be liven in friendship, from one person to another, but must never be sold. The little double blue periwinkle however, with its flowers of so soft a colour, retains the magic of the wild, lost, and banished periwinkle of the woods. Many years ago when people used plants more than we‘do for the relief of pain,* it was believed that the trailing stems of the periwinkle would prevent cramp m the leg u wound round it. This was supposed to be a very good cure, too! Such Is the strength of a faith that is really believed!

Specimens of Insects or plants are Invited from readers. The conditions under which such specimens are found as well as the locality should be clearly stated. It is necessary to state whether ‘he specimen, if an insect, was dead or alive when it was found.