Madagascan periwinkle

Back at the ranch after a three week whirlwind tour of the UK and Ascension Island. Had a lovely time seeing family and friends, surviving a sensationally soggy spell. Ascension was lovely and warm as per usual. We stayed in a cabin which was surrounded by tropical shrubs, giving a pleasant sense of our own space. Ascension is volcanic and covered in a medley of things mostly introduced by humans in order to perk the surroundings up a bit or be useful (or a complete menace), e.g. bananas, guavas, prickly pear (!), hibiscus and so on. Growing right outside our door was a pretty pink flower, whose origins I had just been told and I think you may find interesting. The Madagascan periwinkle was once a little-known species growing only on Madagascar and in danger of extinction. Then it was used in scientific research, initially for diabetes treatment but to no avail. It was subsequently discovered that the periwinkle contains a chemical which is helpful against childhood leukaemia and treatments using the extracted medicine have substantially reduced the mortality rate. The periwinkle is now grown widely by pharmaceutical companies in the US as the chemical cannot be synthesised independently.