# Periwinkle (Vinca minor)

**Vinca*, *pervinca*; sorcerer’s violet*

**Known today as.** *Vinca minor*, the lesser periwinkle, a trailing evergreen with blue flowers.

Kind: Plant

## What was it used for?

An astringent, for bleeding, fluxes, and cramps; the leaves chewed for toothache.

## 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 and toxicology

- **vincamine**: 
- **vinpocetine**: its 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.

**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.

## 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.

## 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.”
- Culpeper, N. (1652). *The English Physitian*.
- *The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus* (attributed).
- Szatmári, S. Z., and Whitehouse, P. J. (2003). “Vinpocetine for cognitive impairment and dementia.” *Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews*.

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*Periwinkle.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-30. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/periwinkle

Historical description, not medical advice.