Catharanthus roseus (L.) G.Don

Code

CTURO

Growth form

Broad leaves

Biological cycle

Perennial

Habitat

Terrestrial 

China: Catharanthus roseus flowers and fruits from spring to autumn.
Madagascar: C. roseus flowers and fruits during the entire warm season.
Mayotte: Catharanthus roseus flowers and fruits all the year round.
Nicaragua: C. roseus flowers almost all year round.
West Indies: C. roseus flowers all year round.

Catharanthus roseus is a perennial plant that is propagated by seeds. The many seeds are ejected by the dehiscent dry fruits, they are then dispersed by wind, water, soil work tools and some insects.

Catharanthus roseus likes sandy areas along the coast but also inland on the river banks, in the savannah vegetation and along roads or as ruderal near homes, sometimes in the open forest, generally on sandy soils, but sometimes on rocky soils. This species is very salt tolerant, and frequently close to the sea, but sometimes up to 1500 m altitude. It can withstand drought, but no severe heat.

 
Madagascar: Catharanthus roseus grows on humiferous sandy soil: ferruginous soils (red sands) and alluvial sandy soil with little or no flooding, sand dune, infertile ground in sunny. It's a weed of dry crops including cassava, peanut and pineapple (East Coast) in semi-intensive or extensive farming system. This is a common ruderal species of wasteland, fallow and cleared land, the roadsides and cultures around the houses especially in the South, the Southwest and the East Coast; this is also a plant of garden everywhere in Madagascar. It occurs mainly in the southern coastal plains of the Southwest, and West, and coastal plains of the east coast.
Mayotte : Species cultivated in gardens for its pink or white flowers. It also recordered as a spontaneous plant in the degraded environments (ruderal) and in crops.
Nicaragua: C. roseus is an exotic cultivated ornamental species but it is also naturalised and a weed in dry areas at altitudes of 0 to 200 m.
South Africa: Weed of waste ground in hot, dry regions, sometimes grown in gardens.
Thailand: C. roseus is a cultivated species but is also sometimes naturalised on sandy areas near the sea or on wasteland.
West Indies: An exotic species grown in gardens but also escaped and naturalized.
 

Origin

Catharanthus roseus is native to Madagascar.
 
Worldwide distribution
 
A naturalized species occurring everywhere in the tropics: tropical South America and the USA, Africa, South-west islands of the Indian Ocean, Europe, India, Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Local harmfulness

Madagascar: Catharanthus roseus is a weed relatively infrequent but usually abundant when present. It does not present particular difficulties for farmers. It is regularly abundant in cassava crop (in the South and on the East Coast) or pineapple cultivation (east coast), it is particularly characteristic of loamy sands of the coastal plains of Madagascar.
South Africa: Catharanthus roseus competes with native species and is toxic.

Medicinal: Catharanthus roseus is a recognized medicinal plant. In traditional medicine, the roots and leaves are used as anthelmintic, purgative, purifying and hypotensive. The aerial parts are cited to treat diabetes. Externally, the leaves are used to treat wounds, various skin problems and insect bites including the wasps. This plant contains many alkaloids (over a hundred) including catharanthine, vinblastine, vindoline, vincristine, leurosine etc., which are used in chemotherapy of cancer including leukemia.
In China, C. roseus is cultivated and used medicinally. A decoction of all the parts is used to treat malaria, skin diseases, Hodgkin's disease, diarrhoea, hypertension and diabetes.

Ornamental: C. roseus is a widely used as an ornamental species in many tropical countries.

Local control

Madagascar: Small hand tools such as angady and machetes are used to control Catharanthus roseus in the cassava crop systems or sometimes in orchards in the east coast.

Herbarium pictures ReCOLNAT: https://explore.recolnat.org/search/botanique/simplequery=Catharanthus%2520roseus