Madagascar Periwinkle
Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus)
Madagascar Periwinkle (Caranthus roseus) is an evergreen, herbaceous plant that grows to 4 feet tall. This plant is native to Madagascar and is a perennial is warm climates, though often grown as an annual in more temperate regions. It is commonly used as an ornamental plant due to its attractive, pink, five-lobed flowers, though cultivars of additional colors are also available. This species is also known by the names Rose Periwinkle, Cape Periwinkle, or Annual Vinca. Though commonly called periwinkle, and previously classified as a member of the Vinca genus, it has since been moved to Catharanthus (North Carolina Extension). Madagascar Periwinkle is the source for both vinblastine and vincristine, which are used as chemotherapy medications to treat a number of types of cancer.
Historical Use
Madagascar Periwinkle (Caranthus roseus) has an exceptionally long history of being used as a medicinal plant. The oldest mention of the plant being used medicinally dates back to 2600 BC when it appears in Mesopotamian folklore (Nejat et al., 2015). Madagascar Periwinkle has also been used in the Ayurveda system of traditional Indian medicine as well as traditional Chinese medicine (Kumar, Singh, & Singh, 2022). Historically, the plant has been used to treat diabetes, cancer, respiratory ailments, inflammation, and as a diuretic (Natural Medicines, 2021).
Latest Research
- Morphological Characteristics and ITS Molecular Markers of Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don: A Medicinal Plant in Southern Vietnamby Thieu Van Duong on May 16, 2025 at 10:00 am
<b>Background and Objective:</b> <i>Catharanthus roseus</i> (L.) G. Don is a medicinal plant known for its therapeutic properties, particularly in cancer treatment and diabetes management. Its morphological characteristics and genetic markers play a crucial role in species identification, conservation and breeding programs. This study aims to evaluate the morphological features and molecular markers of <i>Catharanthus roseus</i> in Southern Vietnam to enhance…
- Seed bacterization with siderophore-producing bacteria: a strategy to enhance growth and alkaloid content in Catharanthus roseusby Vyoma Mistry on January 20, 2025 at 11:00 am
Catharanthus roseus is a medicinal plant widely known for producing monoterpenoid indole alkaloids (MIAs), including therapeutic compounds such as vinblastine and vincristine, which are crucial for cancer treatment. However, the naturally low concentration of these alkaloids in plant tissues poses a significant challenge for large-scale production. This study explores the application of siderophore-producing bacteria for seed bacterization of Catharanthus roseus to enhance the production of…
- Cell-type-aware regulatory landscapes governing monoterpene indole alkaloid biosynthesis in the medicinal plant Catharanthus roseusby Chenxin Li on October 26, 2024 at 10:00 am
In plants, the biosynthetic pathways of some specialized metabolites are partitioned into specialized or rare cell types, as exemplified by the monoterpenoid indole alkaloid (MIA) pathway of Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar Periwinkle), the source of the anticancer compounds vinblastine and vincristine. In the leaf, the C. roseus MIA biosynthetic pathway is partitioned into three cell types with the final known steps of the pathway expressed in the rare cell type termed idioblast. How cell-type…
- Differential response of biochar in mitigating salinity stress in periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus L.) as an ornamental-medicinal plant speciesby Seyedeh Fatemeh Mohammadi Kabari on January 8, 2024 at 11:00 am
To investigate the effect of various levels of salinity and biochar on the growth and biochemical traits of Catharanthus roseus L., a medicinal plant, a factorial experiment with three levels of biochar (0, 2, and 4%) and four levels of salinity (0, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 mg/kg soil) was conducted in pots under greenhouse conditions, in three replications, 36 pots, and 6 plants/plot. Salinity reduced the vegetative and reproductive growth and Ca and K uptake, and chlorophyll content of the…
- The leaf idioblastome of the medicinal plant Catharanthus roseus is associated with stress resistance and alkaloid metabolismby Joana G Guedes on October 7, 2023 at 10:00 am
Catharanthus roseus leaves produce a range of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids (MIAs) that include low levels of the anticancer drugs vinblastine and vincristine. The MIA pathway displays a complex architecture spanning different subcellular and cell type localizations, and is under complex regulation. As a result, the development of strategies to increase the levels of the anticancer MIAs has remained elusive. The pathway involves mesophyll specialized idioblasts where the late unsolved…
References
Dugé de Bernonville, T., Maury, S., Delaunay, A., Daviaud, C., Chaparro, C., Tost, J., . . . Courdavault, V. (2020). Developmental Methylome of the Medicinal Plant Catharanthus roseus Unravels the Tissue-Specific Control of the Monoterpene Indole Alkaloid Pathway by DNA Methylation. Int J Mol Sci, 21(17). doi:10.3390/ijms21176028
Gardener, N. C. E. (2021). Catharanthus roseus. Plant Toolbox. Retrieved from https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/catharanthus-roseus/
Kumar, S., Singh, B., & Singh, R. (2022). Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don: A review of its ethnobotany, phytochemistry, ethnopharmacology and toxicities. J Ethnopharmacol, 284, 114647. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2021.114647
Liang, J., An, T., Zhu, J. X., Chen, S., Zhu, J. H., Peters, R. J., . . . Zi, J. (2021). Mining of the Catharanthus roseus Genome Leads to Identification of a Biosynthetic Gene Cluster for Fungicidal Sesquiterpenes. J Nat Prod, 84(10), 2709-2716. doi:10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c00588
Medicines, N. (2021). Madagascar Periwinkle. Madagascar Periwinkle.
Moon, S. H., Pandurangan, M., Kim, D. H., Venkatesh, J., Patel, R. V., & Mistry, B. M. (2018). A rich source of potential bioactive compounds with anticancer activities by Catharanthus roseus cambium meristematic stem cell cultures. J Ethnopharmacol, 217, 107-117. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2018.02.021
Nejat, N., Valdiani, A., Cahill, D., Tan, Y. H., Maziah, M., & Abiri, R. (2015). Ornamental exterior versus therapeutic interior of Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus): the two faces of a versatile herb. ScientificWorldJournal, 2015, 982412. doi:10.1155/2015/982412
Pham, H. N. T., Sakoff, J. A., Vuong, Q. V., Bowyer, M. C., & Scarlett, C. J. (2019). Phytochemical, antioxidant, anti-proliferative and antimicrobial properties of Catharanthus roseus root extract, saponin-enriched and aqueous fractions. Mol Biol Rep, 46(3), 3265-3273. doi:10.1007/s11033-019-04786-8
Qu, Y., Safonova, O., & De Luca, V. (2019). Completion of the canonical pathway for assembly of anticancer drugs vincristine/vinblastine in Catharanthus roseus. Plant J, 97(2), 257-266. doi:10.1111/tpj.14111