Vinca minor (Myrtle)

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Vinca minor L.

Myrtle, periwinkle, common periwinkle, creeping myrtle

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Gentianales	Gentians, coffee, gardenias, frangipani, many others
Family	Apocynaceae	Dogbane family
Genus	Vinca	From Latin vincio, “to bind,” a reference to the shoots
Species	minor	“Smaller”

About plant names...

Myrtle is a European native introduced to the United States in the 1700s, where it is used as an ornamental ground cover. It spreads quickly in some habitats and is sometimes considered an invasive.

Identification: Myrtle is only 6" (15 cm) high, a vine with dark, glossy evergreen leaves. It prefers the partial shade of forest floors, where it forms a nearly continuous mat. Leaves are elliptic in shape, with smooth edges, about 1" (2.5 cm) long. The natural plant has five-petaled blue-purple flowers about ½-¾" (1.3-1.9 cm) across. Cultivars come in shades of reddish purple or white.

From Britton, Nathaniel Lord, and Brown, Addison, An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions, 1913, p. Vol. 3, p. 20, courtesy of the USDA PLANTS database.