Species
+

Vinca major L.

Bigleaf Periwinkle, Blue Periwinkle, Greater Periwinkle, Greater Periwinkle [plant]

Climate known 45 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Vinca major, the greater periwinkle, also sometimes called bigleaf periwinkle, large periwinkle or blue periwinkle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, native to the Mediterranean region. Growing to 25 cm (10 in) tall and spreading indefinitely, it is an evergreen perennial, frequently used in cultivation as a ground cover.

Text from Wikipedia, “Vinca major”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Vinca

Vinca is an Old World genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae. The English name periwinkle is shared with the related genus Catharanthus. Some Vinca species are cultivated but have also spread invasively. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Vinca”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Apocynaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
France, Sardegna, Albania +10
Wild records
129 in range· 27 open

At a glance

Warmest month
22°C
Jul, mean day; nights 15 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
827mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 94 mm (CHELSA)
Light
6–37DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January and March to May in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 827 mm a year, wettest October at 94 mm, driest July at 52 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -0.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Pervinca major (L.) Scop., 1771; Vinca major var. oxyloba Stearn.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January and March to May in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (598 mm of 827 mm) takes 8 months, September to January and March to May. Mean temperature moves 12.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to July and September to November.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 827 mm a year, wettest October at 94 mm, driest July at 52 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

827 mm a year at the habitat, 598 mm of it September to January and March to May. Wettest month October at 94 mm, driest July at 52 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 713 mm to 1218 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 6 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 4, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -0.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -0.3 °C, the absolute minimum -6.7 °C, about 5 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 22.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 2.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells -2.0 °C to 5.5 °C), warmest day 22.3 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -0.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 8 °C in Feb to 22 °C in Jul; mean night from 3 °C in Jan to 15 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 827 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 115 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -6.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 22.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°frost22.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)-6.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 6–37RH 60–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 115 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C8 / 5–118 / 6–1110 / 9–1414 / 11–1718 / 14–2120 / 17–2522 / 19–2822 / 19–2819 / 17–2415 / 14–1911 / 9–149 / 6–11
Night °C3 / -2–63 / -2–54 / 1–76 / 4–109 / 8–1312 / 11–1715 / 14–2015 / 14–2013 / 11–1710 / 8–146 / 3–93 / -1–7
Rain mm74 / 52–11658 / 43–9264 / 47–9060 / 49–10667 / 50–9659 / 36–11452 / 21–10760 / 34–11471 / 60–11094 / 70–14687 / 65–16581 / 69–141
DLI7 / 5–1313 / 10–1920 / 17–2729 / 27–3535 / 32–4137 / 33–4536 / 33–4631 / 28–4023 / 19–3014 / 12–208 / 6–146 / 4–11
RH %65 / 59–6864 / 58–6562 / 57–6460 / 57–6360 / 57–6361 / 56–6460 / 54–6461 / 55–6462 / 58–6464 / 60–6565 / 60–6766 / 60–69

Each figure is the median across the 115 grid cells holding the 126 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 783:3518 (50.825, -4.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -6.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 22.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 115 distinct grid cells holding the 126 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 783:3518 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 51.00_-4.375, lapse-corrected +6 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 86 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFrance, Sardegna, Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia, Yugoslavia, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, East Aegean Is., Lebanon-Syria, Turkey· introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Switzerland, Corse, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Turkey-in-Europe, Baltic States, Krym, Ukraine, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, Rwanda, Eritrea, Ethiopia, St.Helena, China South-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan, West Himalaya, Norfolk Is., Tasmania, Chatham Is., New Zealand North, New Zealand South, British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Arizona, California, Utah, New Mexico, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Mexico Central, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Chile Central, Juan Fernández Is., Uruguay
Kew's description“perennial or subshrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker50.78, 0.276 · in the densest population, 88 records (68% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 129 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 27 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 236 km away. 686 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 3 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 129 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Vinca majorVinca majorVinca majorVinca majorVinca majorVinca majorVinca majorVinca major

Photographs: (c) Daniel Cahen, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Roman A. Lagazyuk (Роман А. Лагазюк), some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Barbara Banfield, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Gianni Del Bufalo bygdb, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Vinca major, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Using chlorophyll fluorescence to assess the fraction of absorbed light allocated to thermal dissipation of excess excitation
Barbara Demmig‐Adams, William W. Adams, David Barker, Barry A. Logan (1996) · Physiologia Plantarum
Causal Role of Xylella fastidiosa in Oleander Leaf Scorch Disease
Alexander H. Purcell, Stuart R. Saunders, Mavis Hendson, M. E. Grebus (1999) · Phytopathology
Xylella fastidiosa: its biology, diagnosis, control and risks
Janse, JD, Aleksa Obradović (2010) · AgroSpace (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Agriculture)
Fate of Pierce's Disease Strains of Xylella fastidiosa in Common Riparian Plants in California
Alexander H. Purcell, Stuart R. Saunders (1999) · Plant Disease
Xanthophyll Cycle Pigment Localization and Dynamics during Exposure to Low Temperatures and Light Stress inVinca major1
Amy Verhoeven, William W. Adams, Barbara Demmig‐Adams, Roberta Croce (1999) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Antioxidants and xanthophyll cycle-dependent energy dissipation in Cucurbita pepo L. and Vinca major L. acclimated to four growth PPFDs in the field
Barry A. Logan, B. Demmig-Adams, William W. Adams, Stephen C. Grace (1998) · Journal of Experimental Botany
Plant selection for green roofs and their impact on carbon sequestration and the building carbon footprint
Mohammad Reza Seyedabadi, Ursula Eicker, Saghar Karimi (2021) · Environmental Challenges
Applicability of a Blood–Brain Barrier Specific Artificial Membrane Permeability Assay at the Early Stage of Natural Product-Based CNS Drug Discovery
Árpád Könczöl, Judit Müller, Emília Földes, Zoltán Béni (2013) · Journal of Natural Products

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Vinca 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 11 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.