Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Madagascar Periwinkle - Catharanthus roseus   (L.) G. Don
Members of Apocynaceae:
Only member of Catharanthus in NC.
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Section 6 » Order Gentianales » Family Apocynaceae
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Author(L.) G. Don
DistributionTwo specimens are known: waste ground in Cumberland County in 1957 and waste ground in Pitt County in 1958. It is still cultivated in NC and likely to escape elsewhere.

Native of Madagascar; in N.A. NC and TN south to FL and TX; also KS, CA.
AbundanceVery rare.
HabitatWaste places.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting May-October.
IdentificationMadagascar Periwinkle has become quite popular as an ornamental since the discovery that it harbors anti-leukemia compounds. It grows about a foot tall, with opposite elliptical leaves that are shiny dark green and with a pale median vein. The flowers are terminal, pink to dark rosy or white, each of the 5 petals with a red base.
Taxonomic Comments
Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE
Global RankGNR
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USACE-agcpUPL link
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B.A. SorriePlanted, not established. By mailbox, Whispering Pines, August 2015. MoorePhoto_non_natural
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