Periwinkle
Vinca, pervinca; sorcerer’s violet
- Known today as
- Vinca minor, the lesser periwinkle, a trailing evergreen with blue flowers.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- vincamine, vinpocetine
- Earliest authority here
- Culpeper (1616–1654)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Periwinkle: what was it used for?
An astringent, for bleeding, fluxes, and cramps; the leaves chewed for toothache.
Periwinkle: what does modern science say?
Vinca minor yields vincamine, from which a drug for the circulation of the brain was made. The cancer drugs vincristine and vinblastine come from another plant, the Madagascar periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- vincamine ChEMBL
- vinpocetine ChEMBLits synthetic derivative
- Mechanism
- Vincamine dilates the blood vessels of the brain; vinpocetine, made from it in Hungary in the 1970s, is sold for memory in Europe and Japan on thin evidence. The cancer drugs vincristine and vinblastine come from the Madagascar periwinkle, a different plant.
- Toxic dose
- Vinpocetine drops blood pressure and is not for pregnancy; the FDA warned in 2019.
- Standing
- Vinpocetine is a prescription drug in some countries and an unapproved supplement in the United States.
- Szatmári, S. Z., and Whitehouse, P. J. (2003). “Vinpocetine for cognitive impairment and dementia.” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Verified against its record · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd003119
The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Periwinkle: what lore surrounds it?
In France the “sorcerer’s violet”; in medieval England a garland of periwinkle was put on the condemned on the way to execution, and a medieval book of secrets attributed to Albertus Magnus gives it, powdered with earthworms, to kindle love between husband and wife.
Periwinkle: what did the older authorities say?
- Culpeper
- Places it under Venus, and says the leaves eaten together by man and wife cause love between them.
Sources
- Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal, “Periwinkle.” Book, not indexed
- Culpeper, N. (1652). The English Physitian. Primary text
- The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus (attributed). Book, seen in reviews
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 4 cited: 1 verified against its record, 1 primary text, 1 book, seen in reviews, 1 book, not indexed. 1 with the abstract on file.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 30, 2026
- Chicago
“Periwinkle.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 30, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/periwinkle.
- MLA
“Periwinkle.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 30 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/periwinkle. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Periwinkle. (2026, September 30). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/periwinkle
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See Also
Also in Nicholas Culpeper
Ragwort in Nicholas Culpeper · Motherwort in Nicholas Culpeper · Raisins in Nicholas Culpeper · Moonwort in Nicholas Culpeper · everything Nicholas Culpeper names →
Drawing on the same sources: Grieve, Culpeper
Pilewort · Pennyroyal · Plantain · The precious stones · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Peony (the kind formerly grown for its medicinal root) · Pilgrim badges and ampullae · Penicillin mould (fruit, and damp) · Poison fire coral (finger-like fungus of Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia) · Pearls, prepared (Pearls ground to a fine powder)
Historical description, not medical advice.