MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC CROPS (2+1)

Importance and chemical composition

• Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) belonging to the family Apocynaceae, is one of the few medicinal plants which have found mention in the folk medicinal literature as early as 2nd BC.


• Modern investigations have shown that periwinkle contains more than 100 alkaloids, distributed through out the plant.
  


• It has medicinal importance owing to the presence of alkaloids like ajmalicine (raubasin), serpentine and reserpine in roots, which is well known for their hypotensive and antispasmodic properties.
  


• It gained further importance after the isolation of vincristine and vinblastine alkaloids from leaves, which have importance in cancer therapy.
  


• Vincristine sulphate is being marketed under the trade name ONCOVIN, which is used against acute leukemia and vinblastine sulphate as VELBE to cure Hodgkin’s disease.