Introduced from the Mediterranean, this plant can spread to the point of becoming a nuisance weed. As a climbing plant it tends to smother smaller plants around it and seems quite at home in our colder climate often flowering in the late Autumn and very early Spring.

Vinca major has spread into the English countryside very efficiently and can be found almost everywhere, in Wales it is not quote so common and in Scotland it is mostly found on the south western and eastern coasts with a pocket of abundance around Inverness. In Ireland it is common in the south but scarcer in the the north.

Hedge on Anglesey lane, 10th February 2005

Added on February 10th 2005, updated 23rd February 2012