o2PlantingForTheFuture

Saving The Plants That Save Us

Monday, 02 March 2009

Rosy periwinkle

The Rosy periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) pictured increases a child's chance of surviving leukemia by 10 to 95%. Many plants save our lives; in fact 50,000 different species of plant are known to be used for medicinal purposes. But these plants are increasingly threatened for a host of reasons, and as they disappear so do our life saving resources. Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) has just published a report that looks at the state of medicinal plants from around the world.