Bitterroot Restoration

 

Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Common name: Nayantara(Beng.); Madagascar periwinkle, Periwinkle(Eng.).
Life cycle:
Native Range: Native and endemic to Madagascar.

Catharanthus roseus is a species of Catharanthus. In the wild, it is an endangered plant; the main cause of decline is habitat destruction by slash and burn agriculture. It is also however widely cultivated and is naturalised in subtropical and tropical areas of the world. It is an evergreen subshrub or herbaceous plant growing to 1 m tall. Their leaves are oval to oblong, 2.5–9 cm long and 1–3.5 cm broad, glossy green, hairless, with a pale midrib and a short petiole 1–1.8 cm long; they are arranged in opposite pairs. Their flowers are white to dark pink with a darker red centre, with a basal tube 2.5-3 cm long and a corolla 2–5 cm diameter with five petal-like lobes. Their fruit is a pair of follicles 2–4 cm long and 3 mm broad.

Catharanthus roseus has long been cultivated for herbal medicine and as an ornamental plant. In traditional Chinese medicine, extracts from it have been used to treat numerous diseases, including diabetes, malaria, and Hodgkin's disease.