An evergreen shrub whose barren stems are long and trailing, its flowering ones erect and 1 to 2 ft high, glabrous except for a few dark bristles at the joints. Leaves opposite, ovate, 1 to 3 in. long, half to two-thirds as wide, pointed, dark green, glossy on both surfaces, glabrous, but edged with minute hairs; stalk 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 in. long. Flowers bright blue, solitary in the leaf-axils on a slender stalk 1 to 2 in. long; corolla 11⁄2 in. across, the base a funnel-shaped tube spreading at the mouth into five deep, broadly obovate lobes; calyx-lobes five, narrowly linear, nearly 1⁄2 in. long, with hairs on the margin. Fruits glabrous, awl-shaped, long-pointed, 11⁄2 to 2 in. long.
Native of the western and central Mediterranean region, with a subspecies ranging as far east as the Caucasus; long cultivated and seemingly wild in many localities outside its natural range, including Britain. It is useful for growing in semi-shaded positions where it makes pleasant ground cover, but not flowering so well there as in the full sun. The first flowers appear in May and continue until September. It should be trimmed over annually in spring, cutting away the old growths. Distinct from V. minor in its large, broad-based, often heart-shaped leaves, and from V. difformis in its ciliate leaves and calyx-lobes.
cv. ‘Oxyloba’. – Corolla segments narrower and more acute than normal, deep violet-blue. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, conspicuously hairy at the edge. Originally described in 1930 from a plant cultivated by E. A. Bowles at Myddelton House, Enfield. Possibly a geographical variant, since it is matched by plants growing wild in southern Italy (Stearn, Gard. Chron., Vol. 88 (1930), p. 156, and in Vinca Alkaloids, pp. 85-6). It has been confused with subsp. hirsuta.
subsp. hirsuta (Boiss.) Stearn V. major var. hirsuta Boiss.; V. pubescens D’Urville – Hairs on the petiole, leaf-margin and calyx longer and denser than in the typical state. Native of the western Caucasus and northern Asia Minor.
cv. ‘Reticulata’. – Young leaves golden-veined, later normally coloured and dark green. Flowers with broad segments, rich blue.
cv. ‘Variegata’ (‘Elegantissima’). – Leaves boldly margined with creamy white, the margination yellower on the young foliage. Flowers rich lavender-blue.