Scientific Name

Vinca minor L.

Family

Apocynaceae

Common Names

common periwinkle, dwarf periwinkle, lesser periwinkle, periwinkle, running myrtle, vinca

Origin

Native to southern and central Europe (i.e. France, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia and south-western Russia).

Naturalised Distribution

Locally naturalised in southern and north-eastern Victoria.

Also widely naturalised overseas in the British Isles (i.e. the UK and Ireland), northern Europe (e.g. Denmark and Finland), southern Africa (e.g. Kenya and Tanzania), New Zealand, North America (i.e. the USA and Canada) and southern South America (e.g. Chile).

Notes

Lesser periwinkle (Vinca minor) is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria. It is a particular problem in the Dandenong Ranges region, east of Melbourne.