Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. 'Preservation group discovers Fairfax County's past as it cleans up graves'. 'So Many Myrtles - Unraveling the confusion and contradiction'. Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. The colour name periwinkle is derived from the flower. Vinpocetine (brand names: Cavinton, Intelectol chemical name: ethyl apovincaminate) is a semisynthetic derivative alkaloid of vincamine. Other alkaloids include reserpine, reserpinine, akuammicine, majdine, vinerine, ervine, vineridine, tombozine, vincamajine, vincanine, vincanidine, vincamone, apovincamine, vincaminol, desoxyvincaminol, vincorine and perivincine. Vinca minor contains more than 50 alkaloids, including vincamine. 'Bowles’s Variety’ (violet-blue flowers: also known as ‘Bowles’s Blue’ and ‘La Grave’).'Azurea Flore Pleno' (double blue flowers).

'Atropurpurea' (burgundy-purple flowers).'Argenteovariegata' (leaves have creamy white margins).The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:. Many have a less vigorous habit than the species, and are therefore more suitable for smaller gardens. There are numerous cultivars, with different flower colours and variegated foliage. Repeated chemical treatments may be necessary, along with digging up the roots where feasible. Removal involves cutting, followed by immediate application of concentrated glyphosate or triclopyr to the cut stems. However, spraying with glyphosate easily kills the plant in 2-3 weeks. Once established, it is difficult to eradicate, as its waxy leaves shed most water-based herbicide sprays. Invasion can be restricted by removal of rooting stems in spring. The species has few pests or diseases outside its native range and is widely naturalised and classified as an invasive species in parts of North America. It was once commonly planted in cemeteries in parts of the Southern United States and naturalized periwinkle may indicate the presence of graves whose other markers have disappeared. The species is commonly grown as a groundcover in temperate gardens for its evergreen foliage, spring and summer flowers, ease of culture, and dense habit that smothers most weeds. The closely related species Vinca major is similar, but larger in all parts, and also has relatively broader leaves with a hairy margin. The fruit is a pair of follicles 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long, containing numerous seeds. The flowers are solitary in the leaf axils and are produced mainly from early spring to mid summer but with a few flowers still produced into the autumn they are violet-purple (pale purple or white in some cultivated selections), 2–3 centimetres (0.79–1.18 in) diameter, with a five-lobed corolla. The leaves are evergreen, opposite, 2–4.5 centimetres (0.79–1.77 in) long and 1–2.5 centimetres (0.39–0.98 in) broad, glossy dark green with a leathery texture and an entire margin. Vinca minor is a trailing subshrub, spreading along the ground and rooting along the stems to form large clonal colonies and occasionally scrambling up to 40 centimetres (16 in) high but never twining or climbing.