Catharanthus

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Apocynaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Catharanthus

  • Description

    Genus Description - Erect herbs or subshrubs. Leaves opposite, petiolate, with interpetiolar stipules. Flowers solitary or aggregate (to 4) in leaf axils; calyx of 5 elongate sepals; corolla salverform, the tube narrow, cylindrical, the lobes 5, rounded; stamens inserted in upper portion of tube, the filaments very short, the anthers lanceolate, free, without appendages; ovary with 2 nectary glands at base, the carpels united only by the common style. Fruit of 2 narrow cylindrical follicles; seeds numerous, without hairs.

  • Distribution

    A genus of 8 species, 1 restricted to India, the rest native to Madagascar, the following species widely cultivated throughout the tropics.

    Madagascar Africa|