Periwinkle

Vinca minor

HRB-0227Entry “PERIWINKLE” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition

Open in the Concordance

Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.

Substance of concernGermany gave it a negative monograph, and reproductive toxicity is reported, so not in pregnancy. Its vincamine is the parent of the prescription drug vinpocetine.EFSA: aspidospermane, corynantheane, eburnamonine and 8 moreEFSA’s list of substances, not a danger rating. Checked 26 October 2026.

Historical correspondence. Ruled by Venus, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.

Culpeper’s claims about it: 1, under 1 heading

  1. Nose — (bleeding at)CLM-0023811850 index, p. 138
    The Periwinkle is a great binder, stays bleeding both at mouth and nose, if some of the leaves be chewed.
    QUO-001436Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance

Source

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850

Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.