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It is native and endemic to Madagascar, but is grown elsewhere as an ornamental and medicinal plant, and now has a pantropical distribution. It is a source of the drugs vincristine and vinblastine, used to treat cancer. [3] It was formerly included in the genus Vinca as Vinca rosea.
Vinca alkaloids were originally manufactured by extracting them from Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar Periwinkle). [1] Podophyllum spp. Two chemotherapy drugs, etoposide and teniposide, are synthetic chemical compounds similar in chemical structure to the toxin podophyllotoxin which is found in Podophyllum peltatum (May Apple). [1] Taxus brevifolia
Catharanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae.Like the genus Vinca, they are known commonly as periwinkles. [3] There are eight known species. Seven are endemic to Madagascar, [4] though one, C. roseus, is widely naturalized around the world.
The Madagascan periwinkle Catharanthus roseus L. is the source for a number of important natural products, [1] including catharanthine and vindoline [2] and the vinca alkaloids it produces from them: leurosine and the chemotherapy agents vinblastine [3] and vincristine, [4] all of which can be obtained from the plant.
The diverse flora of Madagascar holds potential for natural product research and drug production on an industrial scale; the Madagascar periwinkle (Cataranthus roseus), a source of alkaloids used in the treatment of different cancers, is a famous example.
Vinca difformis in habitat, Cáceres, Spain. Vinca plants are subshrubs or herbaceous, and have slender trailing stems 1–2 m (3 + 1 ⁄ 2 – 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 ft) long but not growing more than 20–70 cm (8– 27 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) above ground; the stems frequently take root where they touch the ground, enabling the plant to spread widely.
The bark of willow trees contains salicylic acid, the active metabolite of aspirin, and has been used for millennia to relieve pain and reduce fever. [1] Swertia perennis found in high mountain places of Nepal. Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times.
Used as coca tea or chewed, traditionally as a stimulant to overcome fatigue, hunger, thirst, and altitude sickness. [64] Also used as an anesthetic and analgesic. [65] Eschscholzia californica: Californian poppy Used as a herbal remedy: an aqueous extract of the plant has sedative and anxiolytic actions. [66] Eucalyptus globulus: Eucalyptus