Periwinkle

Periwinkle is a perennial, erect, much branched tropical herb. The plant is adaptable to wide variety of habitats, marginal lands with scarcity of water and nutrients and sandy/loamy soils. It is also known as sadabahar, sadaphul, sadasuhagan and tropical periwinkle.

The leaves and roots contain more than 100 alkaloids including vinblastin, ajmalicine, serpentine and reserpine. These alkaloids are used for the treatment of Hodgkin’s disease, hymphosarcroma, horiocarinoma, neuroblastoma, and carcrinoma of the breast lungs. The alkaloid ajmalicine possesses hypotensive and antiarrhythmic properties.

Propagation is mainly by root and stem cuttings. Sometimes it is cultivated as an ornamental plant.