There is also a Larger Periwinkle,
very similar to my favourite here, except in size.
[Illustration: LESSER PERIWINKLE.]
To find the Periwinkle in full flower we should have to come in spring,
but, though it is July now, we shall still find a blossom here and
there, I hope. Even in winter we might do so too.
The Lesser Periwinkle has a blue flower, but the blue is a pale lilac
blue. Here again the petals are really the five spreading lobes of the
corolla. There is something curious about these lobes. They are of a
peculiar irregular shape that is not easy to describe; they are not
exactly pointed, and they are not regular in shape. You could cut the
petal of a Buttercup into two equal parts; it would be almost impossible
to do this with the lobes of the Periwinkle blossom.
The leaves are dark green, glossy and pointed, and they grow in pairs.
Often, however, we find two pairs of leaves growing so closely together
that they seem to grow in fours. The leaves are evergreen; they do not
fade and die in autumn.
Some of the Periwinkle stems are erect and are about six inches high;
others are creeping.
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