Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants

Catharanthus roseus (Linn.) G.Don

Family: Apocynaceae
Genus: Catharanthus
Botanical name: Catharanthus roseus (Linn.) G.Don
PLANT NAME IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
Sanskrit: Nityakalyani
English: Periwinkle
Hindi: Sdabahar, Sadabahar
Malayalam: Nithyakalyani, Shavakkottappacha, Ushamalari

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
Periwinkle is an evergreen subshrub or herbaceous plant growing to 1 m tall. The leaves are oval to oblong, 2.5–9 cm long and 1–3.5 cm broad, glossy green, hairless, with a pale midrib and a short petiole 1–1.8 cm long; they are arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are white to dark pink with a darker red centre, with a basal tube 2.5–3 cm long and a corolla 2–5 cm diameter with five petal-like lobes. The fruit is a pair of follicles 2–4 cm long and 3 mm broad.
The whole plant of Periwinkle is used leukaemia, hypertension, malignancy and stomaceache due to snake bite.