Use
Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don. is an important dicotyledonous medicinal plant, popularly known as Madagascar periwinkle. It belongs to the family Apocynaceae. This perennial plant, synonymously also known as Ammocallis rosea, Vinca rosea, or Lochnera rosea, is prevalent throughout the tropics and is distributed across America, Africa, Australia, Asia, Southern Europe, and the Pacific Islands. This plant grows annually in temperate regions on account of the frosty conditions. It can endure the summer extremes, drought as well as heavy rainfall. An evergreen herbaceous plant, C. roseus grows around 1 m long having opposite, glossy leaves (2 3 inch length). The plant produces dark pink to white-colored flowers having a red dark center; its basal tube is 2.5 3 cm long, whereas corolla consists of five petallike lobes and is about 2 5 cm in diameter. Its fruit is a follicle pair, 2 4 cm long and 3 mm broad (Cononer and Litz 1978). Due to a wide range of TIAs present in it, this plant has been used traditionally for curing different types of ailments around the globe. The shoots contain alkaloids such as vinblastine, antineoplastindimeric, and vincristine, while the roots or basal stem contains vinceine, ajmalicine, raubasine, vincamine, and reserpine (Metha et al. 2013).