For many years I have been removing a plant which is found mostly as a weed in my garden. Though it seems to be attractive to the eye of viewer yet I thought its competing with other flowers which I feel is attractive and nice to look at. I use to remove it every time I do gardening but the time after I join College of Natural Resources I found out that the plant is no more weed in my garden. Its the most healthy plant ever survived after a serious of competition. Moreover it has some herbal benefit and is also used as ornamental plant.
The plant is not other than
Catharanthus roseus popularly known as rose periwinkle in English. Its a herbaceous evergreen plant growing about one meter tall in height. The plant is classified under Apocynaceae family with catharanthus as its genus name. The leaves of this plant is oval to oblong, hairless, short petiole and they are arranged in opposite pair. the flowers are usually white to dark pink with darker red center. he extract from root and shoot of this plant is used as medicine against several diseases though its found poisonous. In Chinese tradition medicine the extract from this plant has been used as a medicine against numerous diseases including Diabetes, malaria and treatment of leukemia. The plant is poisonous if consumed orally and its said that it can be extremely toxic.
Reference: Catharanthus roseus-Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
