http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/4DMG/Whats/vinca2.htm

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Vinca is one of the best examples of why you need to know botanical names. Known variously as vinca, periwinkle, and Madagascar periwinkle, summer-flowering vinca is Catharanthus. It is easily confused with Vinca minor and Vinca major. All of them are members of the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. Catharanthus likes the exact opposite conditions of its cousins, which are also called vinca. Catharanthus prefers sunny, hot situations and blooms all summer until frost. The cousins, Vinca minor and Vinca major, are evergreen vining ground cover plants for shade that produce lovely, generally blue, flowers in spring; they are propagated from cuttings not seed. Another cousin, called vinca vine (Vinca major), is a trailing vine with soft green leaves variegated whitish-yellow; it is popular for use in containers, window boxes, and hanging baskets.
일반명으로 빈카, periwinkle, summer-flowering vinca는 Catharanthus속인데, Vinca minor, Vinca major와 혼동됩니다.
Vinca(Catharanthus)는 마이너나, 메이져와는 생육조건이 완전히 다릅니다.
Vinca(Catharanthus)는 여름을 좋아하여 한여름에 개화하고, 종자번식합니다.
Vinca minor, Vinca major는 상록 덩굴성으로서 음지형 지피식물로 이용되고, 푸른색의 꽃이 봄에 피며, 종자가 아닌 삽목
(꺽꽂이 번식) 합니다.
Vinca major 중에는 행잉 바스켓이나, 창가 화단에 이용되는 품종도 있습니다.


Why the name confusion? The plant botanists who first observed Catharanthus noticed that the flower closely resembled Vinca minor, and it does superficially. They named it Vinca rosea. By the time botanists realized the differences between the plants, the name vinca had become too common to change. The botanical name for the summer flowering vinca, however, underwent a few changes from Lochnera to Ammocallis until it was finally classified as Catharanthus. The species name, C. roseus, which means rose-colored, changed only from the feminine rosea to the masculine roseus to match the gender of the Latin name of the genus. The genus name, Catharanthus, translates as "pure flower." Most modern cultivars are a consequence of hybrids made between C. roseus and other Catharanthus species.
이름에 혼동이 온 이유..
처음으로 Vinca(Catharanthus)를 본 분류학자들이 꽃 형태가 Vinca minor와 유사하고, 매우 아름다운 모습을 보고,
Vinca rosea란 학명을 붙였습니다. 차이점때문에(문맥상) Lochnera, Ammocallis 등으로 속명이 변하였다가 Catharanthus로 정해지게 되었습니다.


All vinca flowers are simple: they are single, never double. Most modern varieties have overlapping petals. (The species, C. roseus, is rosy pink with a small mauve "eye" at the center; there is also a white form.) Thanks to extensive breeding, the color range of vinca now includes pink, deep rose, red, scarlet (the newest being 'Jaio Scarlet Eye,' an All-America Selections winner for 2002), white with red eye, lavender blue with white eye, peach, apricot, orchid, raspberry, burgundy, and many other shades. The 'Stardust' series contains flowers with star-shaped white centers; 'Stardust Orchid' won an AAS award in 2000. Vinca usually grows 8 to 18 inches tall with a 1-foot spread, although there are trailing types that spread to 2 feet.
Vinca의 품종 및 화색
화형은 겹꽃이 없습니다. 최근에는 꽃잎이 겹치는 품종도 나옵니다.
현재는 색상이 핑크, 진분홍, 적색, 진홍색, 등등의 화색을 지닌 품종이 있습니다.

HISTORY, PAST AND PRESENT

Gardeners and herbalists cultivated vinca for centuries in Europe, India, China, and America. In Europe and elsewhere it was used, along with its cousins, to treat all kinds of diseases, from coughs and sore throats to eye and lung infections. Most interesting was its folk use in treating diabetes. In the 20th century, researchers discovered the plant contains dozens of alkaloids: some of them lower blood sugar levels (providing folk remedies with scientific provenance) and blood pressure. In the 1950's, they discovered two alkaloids that are the source of anticancer drugs. Leave the use of vinca in medicine to the professionals and enjoy them in their modern forms in your gardens for their beauty.

As far back as the 1920's, hybridizers worked with selections of the species, C. roseus, to come up with improved plants. Sakata Seed Corporation, a wholesale company headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, offered four varieties of C. roseus in its 1925 catalog: Rose, Alba Okulata, Alba Pura, and Mix.

Through the 1980's, popularity of vinca as a bedding plant was limited because commercial varieties had limited color range: pure pink, rose, white and white with red eye and also poor germination. In the background, however, improved cultivars were pending. In 1976, Ron Parker, at the University of Connecticut, started an interspecific breeding program. He collected seeds of Catharanthus species from professionals and hobby collectors to begin a totally new breeding program. He was looking for new colors, plant habits, freedom of bloom, and improved garden performance.

Meantime, in 1988, two new cultivars with improved germination rates and colors were introduced: 'Grape Cooler' (lavender-pink with rose eye) and 'Peppermint Cooler' (white with red eye). In 1991, the first of Ron Parker's new varieties became available. 'Pretty in White' and 'Parasol' were the result, and they earned All-America Selections awards. They were produced and sold by PanAmerican Seed Co. The same year, Waller Genetics, in California, introduced the new 'Tropicana' series from Parker's breeding program. The plants had new colors with larger flowers and overlapping petals. They were followed in 1993 by more results developed from Parker's germplasm program, the 'Pacifica' series which included the first red-flowered vinca. In subsequent years, additional color breakthroughs came as commercial breeders began to use more of the interspecies cultivars. Bodger Seeds introduced the 'Heatwave' series including new flower colors and PanAmerican Seed introduced the first F1 hybrid vinca, 'Blue Pearl.'

New and improved varieties appear frequently now, including carpet-type plants with trailing habits. The 'Mediterranean' series bred by Waller Genetics are particularly appropriate for baskets.