Rose Periwinkle
Known as popular garden plant – but endangered in the wild.
Rose periwinkle is native to Madagascar. Today, due to deforestation, the plant has become rare in nature. However, it is grown many places, both as a garden plant in the tropics and subtropics and as a houseplant in cooler regions. It can be placed in conservatories in early spring and planted in the garden in the summer.
Rose periwinkle as important mecical plant
Two drugs have been extracted from the rose periwinkle: vincristine and vinblastine. These drugs are used in the treatment of a range of cancers, including lymphatic cancer and childhood leukaemia. However, these substances are only found in very low concentrations in the plant, which make it is necessary to use a ton of leaves to produce enough medicine for a single chemotherapy treatment.
Today, both drugs are produced synthetically and both are on the United Nation's official list of essential medicines.
Facts:
- Greenhouse location: Tropical house
- Danish name: Purpurøje
- Latin name: Catharanthus roseus
- Family: Dogbane family / Apocynaceae
- Natural habitat: Madagascar