Catharanthus roseus(Madagascar periwinkle)
Flower/Plant : Catharanthus roseus(Madagascar periwinkle)
Origin : Catharanthus roseus is native and endemic to Madagascar.
Plant Type : Apocynaceae
Season : May to October
About :
Catharanthus roseus is a long-lived (perennial) sub-shrub or herb, usually erect, 30-100 cm high and at least somewhat woody at the base, sometimes sprawling. White latex is present.
Stems cylindrical (terete), longitudinally ridged or narrowly winged, green or dark red, pubescent at least when young. Leaves opposite, borne on short petioles, 2.5-9.0 cm long, usually elliptical to obovate (egg-shaped in outline but with the narrower end at the base), green with paler veins . The leaf tip is rounded to acute with a tiny point extending from the midrib. Stems and leaves usually with hairs (pubescent), sometimes hairless.
Flowers borne in leaf axils, either singly or paired on very short stalks (pedicels). Sepals 5, 2-6 mm long, narrow, usually with hairs (pubescent). Corolla with a long narrow tube and lobes that spread perpendicular to the tube and almost flat.; corolla tube greenish, usually at least 2.2 cm long, with the inside of the mouth often dark pink or sometimes yellow, pubescent inside the throat with rings of stiff hairs below the mouth and anthers; corolla lobes 5, pink to white or pinkish purple, 1.0-2.8 cm long, obovate. Anthers 5, attached to the inside of the corolla tube in the upper portion and concealed within it.
The fruit is a follicle, 2.0-4.7 cm long, with numerous small black seeds.
Reference
Ashish Kumar Singh
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