Catharanthus roseus, commonly known as bright eyes, Cape periwinkle, graveyard plant, Madagascar periwinkle, old maid, pink periwinkle, rose periwinkle, is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae. It is native and endemic to Madagascar, but is grown elsewhere as an ornamental and medicinal plant, and now has a pantropical distribution. It is a source of the drugs vincristine and vinblastine, used to treat cancer. It was formerly included in the genus Vinca as Vinca rosea.
It has many vernacular names among which are arivotaombelona or rivotambelona, tonga, tongatse or trongatse, tsimatiririnina, and vonenina.
Taxonomy
Two varieties are recognized:
Catharanthus roseus var. roseus
Synonymy for this variety
Catharanthus roseus var. angustus Steenis ex Bakhuizen F.
Catharanthus roseus var. albus G.Don
Catharanthus roseus var. occellatus G.Don
Catharanthus roseus var. nanus Markgr.
Lochnera rosea f. alba (G.Don) Woodson
Lochnera rosea var. ocellata (G.Don) Woodson
Catharanthus roseus var. angustus (Steenis) Bakh. f.
Synonymy for this variety
Catharanthus roseus var. nanus Markgr.
Lochnera rosea var. angusta Steenis
Description
In morning
Catharanthus roseus is an evergreen subshrub or herbaceous plant growing 1 m (39 in) tall. The leaves are oval to oblong, 2.5–9 cm (1.0–3.5 in) long and 1–3.5 cm (0.4–1.4 in) wide, glossy green, hairless, with a pale midrib and a short petiole 1–1.8 cm (0.4–0.7 in) long; they are arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers range from white with a yellow or red center to dark pink with a darker red center, with a basal tube 2.5–3 cm (1.0–1.2 in) long and a corolla 2–5 cm (0.8–2.0 in) diameter with five petal-like lobes. The fruit is a pair of follicles 2–4 cm (0.8–1.6 in) long and 3 mm (0.1 in) wide.
Ecology
In its natural range along the dry coasts of southern Madagascar, Catharanthus roseus is considered weedy and invasive,...
