Name: Small periwinkle – small periwinkle
Small periwinkle (Vinka minor); graveyard, baptismal periwinkle; Periwinkle family (Arosupaseae); small periwinkle
A continuous evergreen carpet of intertwined periwinkle stems with bright blue flowers that appear in May is extremely elegant. Therefore, the plant is often used in garden compositions. Periwinkle is better known to residents of Ukraine, the Baltic States and the southern regions of Russia. In the middle zone, it takes root well in homesteads. It is an evergreen half-shrub (according to other sources, a woody herbaceous plant) with slender stems up to 60 cm long, which take root in the nodes. The leaves are evergreen, elliptical, leathery, bare, shiny on top, 3-5 long and up to 2.5 cm wide. The flowers are blue-purple, blue, sometimes blue, the diameter of their corolla is up to 2.5 cm. It blooms from May to early July. . The fruit is assembled from two leaves. In natural conditions, it grows among shrubs, in oak, hornbeam,
The healing properties of this plant have been known since the time of Pliny the Elder and Hippocrates, but it should be used with caution, as periwinkle has toxic properties.
For the preparation of medicinal products, the aerial part is harvested during flowering, preferably in May. Collected grass is dried under shelter or in attics, as well as in special dryers at a temperature of 40-50 °C. Store the finished raw materials in dry, ventilated rooms for two years.
The aerial part of the plant contains alkaloids (up to 0.4%), bitter substances, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) (up to 900 mg%), ursolic acid, carotene (provitamin A) (about 8 mg%), flavonoids. The flavonoid glycoside robinin was isolated from the flowers.
Preparations made on the basis of periwinkle (vincapan and devincan) are produced by the pharmaceutical industry. Infusions and decoctions from the aerial part of the plant are used only in folk medicine.
Galenic products of periwinkle lower blood pressure, have an astringent, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and hemostatic effect. They expand venous and cerebral vessels, relax the smooth muscles of the small intestine, and stimulate uterine contractions. The drugs vincapan and devincan are prescribed for hypertension, cerebral vascular spasms, neurogenic tachycardia and vegetative-vascular dystonia. Devincan also helps with migraines.
In folk medicine, the aerial part of the plant is used in the form of decoctions, infusions and infusions. They are used to treat hypertension, migraine, toothache, scurvy, bleeding from the gums and to eliminate bad breath from the oral cavity (rinse); emphysema of the lungs, dysentery, diarrhea (diarrhoea), uterine and intestinal bleeding, infertility, impotence, eczema and other skin diseases are also treated. A vapor of flowers is used as a means of skin care: it gives it softness, elasticity and a pleasant matte shade.
Folk medicine preparations from periwinkle for internal use, given their toxicity, should be used only under the supervision of a qualified phytotherapist.
Quite often, periwinkle is a part of homeopathic products.
Infusion of grass with flowers. 15 g of raw materials are heated to boiling in 250 ml of vodka, boiled for 5 min., filtered. Take 5 drops in the morning and in the evening for 4 days, take a two-day break, and then repeat the course if the potency decreases.
Infusion of leaves. 1 tablespoon of raw material per 250 ml of boiling water. Insist for 15-20 minutes, filter. Take 1/3-1/4 cup three times a day for hypertension.
Decoction of grass. 1 tablespoon of raw material per 250 ml of boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes, filter. For washing wounds, ulcers, with itchy dermatitis.