Description: Trailing herbaceous perennial with ascending flowering stems.
Leaves opposite.
Flowers solitary in leaf axils, long pedicellate. Calyx lobes linear, ciliate, without glands inside but with 2 marginal glands. Corolla tube cylindrical, slightly funnel-shaped, hairy inside in upper part, a slightly raised 5-angled corona present at throat; lobes twisted to left. Stamens enclosed in corolla tube, on short filaments; anthers hairy, hooded, fertile to base, coherent around the style head. Carpels distinct except for the single style; ovules 2–6 in each ovary; style head with a circular tuft of hairs above the thickened ring. Nectary scales 2, basal, alternating with the ovaries.
Follicles cylindrical, usually in pairs; seeds without wings or hairs.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 5 spp., Eur., N Afr., W Asia. Aust.: 1 sp. (naturalized).
Text by G. J. Harden & J. B. Williams
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Vinca major |
|
