Photographs: Muckross, Co. Kerry

Lesser Periwinkle Vinca minor Fincín beag Family: Apocynaceae Flowering: March-May. Evergreen sub-shrub. Introduced. The solitary blue flowers are 5-petalled and smaller than those of Greater Periwinkle. Oval shiny green leaves are in pairs, short-stalked with hairless leaf margins. Prostrate growth habit, rooting stems. Height to 20cm A garden escape, discard or relic of cultivation most frequently found in woods and hedge banks and on roadsides. Similar: Greater Periwinkle, V. major. Taller, flowering April-May

Lesser Periwinkle, Vinca minor, Fincín beag