Periwinkle
Catharanthus roseus
Also known as Rose periwinkle
About Periwinkle
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.
Description adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Catharanthus roseus
- Genus
- Catharanthus
- Family
- APOCYNACEAE
- Habit
- Undershrub
- Native to
- Madagascar
- Distribution
- Naturalized in tropics
- Flowering & fruiting
- Throughout the year
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Local Names
- Hindi
- Sadabahar सदाबहार, सदाबहार
- Nepali
- बाह्रमासे फूल Baahramaase Phool
- Bengali
- নযনতাৰা Nayantara, নয়নতারা
- Tamil
- நித்யகல்யாணி Nitayakalyani, நித்திய கல்யாணி, சுடுகாட்டுமல்லி
- Telugu
- బిళ్ళ గన్నేరు Billa Ganneru, బిళ్ళ గన్నేరు
- Kannada
- ಸದಾಪುಷ್ಪ Sadaapushpa, ನಿತ್ಯಪುಷ್ಪ Nityapushpa, ಸದಾಪುಷ್ಪ
- Malayalam
- Shavam Naari, നിത്യകല്യാണി, ഉഷമലരി
- Marathi
- सदाफूली Sadaphuli, सदाफुली
Apocynaceae
Dogbane family
Periwinkle belongs to the Apocynaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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