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Medicinal Plant details

 More Information
 
Sanskrit Name Sadabahar
 
Common name in English Vinca, Periwhinkle, Periwinkle, Madagascar periwinkle, Cape Periwinkle, Old Maid
 
Botanical Name Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don
 
Parts Used Whole herb
 
Human Medicinal Usage Extract of the boiled plant is applied to arrest bleeding. To treat soar throat, a gargle of the extract of the plant is suggested by native people of Central India. In Surinam, people boil ten leaves and ten flowers together and take it as a medicine to cure diabetes, whereas, Bahamians take this decoction for asthma and flatulence. Entire plant is said to be good in tuberculosis. The plant showed maximum anti-inflammatory effect as compared to Azadirachta indica and Ocimum sanctum (Chattopadhyay et al., 1994). Pal et al. (1968) studied and reported the anticancer effect of this plant. Flowers and leaves are used for controlling diabetes (Aiman 1961; Goyal & Tiwari 1999; Chattopadhyay, 1999; Nammi et al., 2003). Leaves are used for reducing the diarrhoeal problem. Roots are applied in toothache. Catharanthus roseus showed significant inhibition during in vitro angiogenic activity (Wang, 2004). It has a clinically proven anticancer activity (Ram & Kumari, 2001). According to the observation made by Zheng and Wang (2001), this plant is good antioxidant.
 
Veterinary Medicinal Usage Though it has medicinal properties but it is poisonous when eaten by cows. White latex of the plant cure wounds of animals.
 
Agriculture Usage Phytopalm, a herbal pesticide against coconut mite is made from ten herbs: "kolingi" (Tephrosia pupurea), "notchi" (Vitex negundo), Lantana camara, Vinca rosea, Pongamia pinnata, Anona squamosa, Turmeric (Curcuma longa), Neem (Azadirachta indica), Garlic (Allium sativum) and Cassia auriculata (Louis, 2001). It is effective in combating leaf-spot disease of Mangifera indica. It kills the growth of the causal organism Pestalotiopsis mangiferae (Rai, 1996).
 
Synonyms Vinca rosea L.
 
Family Apocynaceae
 
Description A herbaceous plant having few branches and grows about 50 cm high. The flowers are normally white or a purplish-pink in a colour. It is a fleshy perennial growing to 32 in (80 cm) high. Leaves are glossy, dark green, oval around 1-2 inches long. The blooms of the natural wild plants are a pale pink with a purple "eye" in their centers. Flowering is seen throughout the year (WOA, 1998).
 
Common Name in India Beng- Gulferinghi, Nayantara; Gujarati- Barmasi; Hindi- Sadabahar, Sada suhagan; Kannada- Kempukasi kanegale; Malalayam- Ushamalari; Marathi- Sadaphul; Oriya- Ainskati; Tamil- Sudukadu mallikai; Telugu- Billaganneru (WOA, 1998).
 
Habitat Occasionally found wild but mostly naturalized up to an altitude of 1,300m, and commonly grown in gardens (WOA, 1998).
 
Rainfall A mild tropical climate and well-distributed rainfall of 100 cm per annum are sufficient to raise a commercial rain-fed crop (WOA, 1998).
 
Soil (Physical/Chemical) The plant is very hard, and grows luxuriantly under a great variety of climatic and soil conditions except the highly alkaline or water-logged soils. It prefers light, well- drained, sandy loam (WOA, 1998).
 
Regional Distribution Found in all over India (WOA, 1998).
 
Global Distribution Catharanthus roseus is native to the Madagascar. This herb is now common in many tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. It cultivated as an ornament in gardens throughout the world and on commerical basis in Malagasy, Israel, India and the United States.
 
Harvest The crop is ready for harvest after a year of planting. The plant is cut 7.5 cm above the ground level and dried for stems, leaves and seeds. The field irrigated and ploughed to collect the roots. Roots are washed and dried in shade. The whole plant after harvesting is dried in shade and given a light threshing to separate the seeds. Mature pods should collected 2 or 3 months prior to harvest of the crop to collect well mature seeds for future use.
 
Pests / Diseases Most of the time, the crop is resistant to the attack of fungi and insects. Still, incidence of little leaf and dieback is noticed sometimes.Termites and other soil-borne insects sometimes infest the growing seedlings. Thrips and aphids infest the growing parts. Among viral diseases, the green rosettae disease produces an atrophy of all growing parts. The cucumber mosaic virus causes a severe leaf mosaic. A little-leaf disease due to MLO (mycoplasma-like organism) was observed in plants growing in Orissa. A large number of pathogenic fungi are known to infect periwinkle. Of these, Phytophthora parasitica Dastur, Pythium butleri Subram., and Fusarium spp. cause damping-off in seedlings. Phytophthora parasitica also causes root and crown rot of periwinkle.
 
Chemical composition The Catharanthus or Vinca alkaloids comprise a group of about 130 terpenoid indole alkaloids (Chandorkar, 1971; Renault et al., 1999; van Der Heijden et al., 2004). It contains: Indole alkaloids- Vincamine; Bis- Indole alkaloids- vinblastine (Volkov and Grodnitskaya, 1994) vincristine (Ruszkowska et al., 2003); presence of catharanthine, serpentine, tabersonine, vindoline (Auriola et al., 1990; Song et al., 1992), perivine (Price & Firmin, 1993), ajmalicine, tryptophan, tryptamine and secologanine was observed by Tikhomiroff & Jolicoeur (2002). Tam & Chervenkova (1995) reported alkaloids viz., vinblastine, vindoline and catharanthine in the plant material by the method of TLC. Seed contains aracidic acid, behenic acid, lauric acid, linoleic acid, oleic acid, palmatic acid and stearic acid. Stem contains beta- sitosterol, ursolic acid. Deoxyloganin, loganin, sweroside and a new monoterpene glucoside- dehydrologanin has also been isolated. Configuration of vincarodine; vindoline was done by Ruszkowska et al. (2003). Jossang et al. (1998) isolated two new bisindole alkaloids, vingramine and methylvingramine, from the seeds of Catharanthus roseus. El-Sayed (1983) reported vindolicine, roseadine, and leurosine-N'b-oxide in this plant. Other constituents: The plant contains the glycosides, loganin, deoxyloganin, dehydrologanin, sweroside, secologanoside and roseoside besides secologanic and oleanolic acids, adenosine and a-amyrin acetate. These glycosides act as intermediates in the biosynthesis of indole alkaloids. The flowers contain petunidin, malvidin, hirsutidin, kaempferol and quercetin. The leaves yield an oleoresin and a small amount of volatile oil containing citronellyl acetate, cadinene and 2-heptanol. Presence of two alcohols, lochnerol and lochnerallol, tannin, sterols, and ursolic acid is also reported.
 
Herbarium No 1

REFERENCES
SR No. NAME ARTICLE TITLE AUTHOR PLACE OF PUBLICATION VOLUME/ISSUE YEAR PUBLISHER COMMENT
1 J Org Chem. A New Structural Class of Bisindole Alkaloids from the Seeds of Catharanthus roseus: Vingramine and Methylvingramine. Jossang, A, Fodor, P, Bodo, B. 63(21): 7162-7167. 1998.
2 Indian Journal of Pharmacy. Indigenous antidiabetic substances of plant origin. Aiman, R. 23(4): 115. 1961.
3 Biomed Environ Mass Spectrom. Identification of indole alkaloids of Catharanthus roseus with liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry using collision-induced dissociation with the thermospray ion repeller. Auriola, S, Naaranlahti, T, Kostiainen, R, Lapinjoki, SP. 19(7): 400-404.
4 Journal of the Shivaji University Contribution to the pharmacological studies of Vinca rosea, I - General pharmacological investigations of total alkaloids, chloroform fractions, fractio-A and vincaleucoblastine; II - Evaluation of CNS depressant, analgesic and anticonvulsant actions, Chandorkar, AG. 4(8): 121-127 and 129-132. 1971.
5 Journal of Ethnopharmacology. A comparative evaluation of some blood sugar lowering agents of plant origin. Chattopadhyay, RR. 67(3): 367-372. 1999.
6 Chattopadhyay, RR, Sarkar, SK, Ganguly, S, Basu TK. A comparative evaluation of some anti-inflammatory agents of plant origin, Fitoterapia. Chattopadhyay, RR, Sarkar, SK, Ganguly, S, Basu TK. 65(2): 146-148. 1994.
7 J Nat Prod. Catharanthus alkaloids, XXXVIII. Confirming structural evidence and antineoplastic activity of the bisindole alkaloids leurosine-N'b-oxide (pleurosine), roseadine and vindolicine from Catharanthus roseus. El-Sayed, A, Handy, GA, Cordell, GA. 46(4): 517-527. 1983.
8 in madhumeha, Journal of Research in Ayurveda and Siddha. Study on Vinca rosea Linn. Goyal, DK, Tiwari, SK. 20: 93-100. 1999.
9 BMC Complement Altern Med. The juice of fresh leaves of Catharanthus roseus Linn. reduces blood glucose in normal and alloxan diabetic rabbits. Nammi, S, Boini, MK, Lodagala, SD, Behara, RB. 3(1): 4. 2003
10 IJMR. Search for anti-cancer drugs from Indian medicinal plants (Ayurvedic, Unani, etc.). Pal S, Chakraborti S K, Banerjee AMukerji B 56 (4): 445-455. 1968.
11 Journal of Chromatography A. High-performance liquid chromatography of the alkaloid perivine from Catharanthus roseus after derivatisation with dansyl chloride. Price, NPJ, Firmin, JL. 653(1): 161-166. 1993.
12 Hindustan Antibiot Bull. In vitro evaluation of medicinal plant extracts against Pestalotiopsis mangiferae. Rai, MK. 38(1-4): 53-56. 1996.
13 Drug News Perspect. Natural products of plant origin as anticancer agents. Ram, VJ, Kumari, S. 14(8): 465-482. 2001
14 J Chromatogr A. Isolation of indole alkaloids from Catharanthus roseus by centrifugal partition chromatography in the pH-zone refining mode. Renault, JH, Nuzillard, JM, Le Crouerour, G, Thepenier, P, Zeches-Hanrot, M, Le Men-Olivier, L. 49(2): 421-431. 1999.
15 Adv Exp Med Biol. Novel bisindole derivatives of Catharanthus alkaloids with potential cytotoxic properties. Ruszkowska, J, Chrobak, R, Wrobel, JT, Czarnocki, Z. 527: 643-646. 2003.
16 Biotechnol Prog. Isolation of vindoline from Catharanthus roseus by supercritical fluid extraction. Song, KM, Park, SW, Hong, WH, Lee, H, Kwak, SS, Liu, JR. 8(6): 583-586. 1992.
17 Dokladi na B"lgarskata Akademiya na Naukite. Catharanthus roseus alkaloids: III. Quantitative thin layer chromatography of vinblastine, vindoline and catharanthine in plant material from Vietnam and Bulgaria. Tam, M, Chervenkova, K. 48(2): 57-60. 1995.
18 J Chromatogr A. Screening of Catharanthus roseus secondary metabolites by high-performance liquid chromatography. Tikhomiroff, C, Jolicoeur, M. 955(1): 87-93. 2002.
19 Curr Med Chem. The Catharanthus alkaloids: pharmacognosy and biotechnology. van Der Heijden, R, Jacobs, DI, Snoeijer, W, Hallard, D, Verpoorte, R. 11(5): 607-628. 2004.
20 J Chromatogr B Biomed Appl. Application of high-performance liquid chromatography to the determination of vinblastine in Catharanthus roseus. Volkov, SK, Grodnitskaya, EI. 660(2): 405-408. 1994.
21 Life Sci. Angiogenesis and anti-angiogenesis activity of Chinese medicinal herbal extracts. Wang, S, Zheng, Z, Weng, Y, Yu, Y, Zhang, D, Fan, W, Dai, R, Hu, Z. 74(20): 2467-2478. 2004.
22 J Agric Food Chem. Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds in selected herbs. Zheng, W, Wang, SY. 49(11): 5165-5170. 2001.
23 WOA The Wealth of Asia New Delhi 1998 National Institute of Science Communication, CSIR
24 WOA The Wealth of Asia New Delhi 1998 National Institute of Science Communication, CSIR

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