196 Vinca
Apocynaceae
Vinca majorLinnaeus
greater periwinkle
southern Europe, North Africa;introduced into North America
and elsewhere
Vinca minor Linnaeus
lesser periwinkle
Europe, western Asia; introduced into North America, Australasia
Alien plants which have run into the wilds from gardens and become well
naturalised in places,Vinca majorandV.minorhave acquired uses in folk
medicine to an extent that implies a lengthy history. Discovered in more recent
years to contain beneficial alkaloids, not only were they much recommended
in the herbals but in the hills of western Dorset they have acquired a name,‘St
Candida’s Eyes’, associating them with a medieval healer of local fame.^22
A more widespread name, cutfinger, proclaims the healing properties
contained in the leaves, which when crushed or infused or included in an
ointment have been applied to minor cuts and sores of various kinds in
Devon,^23 Oxfordshire,^24 Cambridgeshire^25 and Lincolnshire,^26 to bruises and
persistent skin irritations in the Highlands,^27 to boils in Oxfordshire^28 and to
nosebleeds there, too, and in Devon.^29 The leaves also have a sedative effect
when chewed or otherwise consumed, making them valued in Devon for
nervous disorders, hysteria and to sufferers from nightmares^30 and for
toothache in Oxfordshire.^31 The roots, too, have been brought to bear on
colic in the Cambridgeshire Fens.^32 More esoterically, periwinkles even had
a reputation for keeping away cramp: in Somerset a decoction of the stems
was drunk to that end,^33 in Lincolnshire a piece of the plant was inserted
between the bedclothes and the mattress,^34 while in Devon the method was
to wind the stem around any part of the body.^35
Solanaceae
Lycium barbarum Linnaeus
L. halimifolium Miller
Duke of Argyll’s teaplant
south-eastern Europe, western Asia; introduced into other
temperate regions
There is a record from Warwickshire^36 of the stems of the sometimes natu-
ralised garden escape Lycium barbarum being used, as an alternative to those