What's your favourite plant and why?

For me, it’s Catharanthus roseus, also known as the Madagascar periwinkle. It is a flowering plant found throughout tropical and subtropical parts of the world. In fact, in my tropical city of Townsville, it is an invasive weed and is frequently found growing in places where it isn’t wanted. It is the source of the vinca alkaloids, a family of cancer chemotherapy drugs. These compounds are used to treat a range of different cancers, and they work by binding to tubulin, preventing it from being used in microtubule polymerization, which is crucial for cell division. Because cancer cells typically reproduce more rapidly than healthy cells, this property allows the vinca alkaloids to be effective in treating cancer. The vinca alkaloid vincristine is part of the reason that childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia—the most common childhood cancer, which was almost 100% fatal as recently as the 1940s—can now be cured in about 80% of cases. Many people in the tropics, including medical professionals, see this plant every day, yet don’t know its name or the incredible power it has hidden within it. I had a childhood paediatrician who had one of these plants in his yard, and he didn’t even know it was the source of the vinca alkaloids—medicines he had seen used throughout his career. I find it a metaphor for the kind of person I’d like to be: someone who, while often overlooked and dismissed, still manages to make the world a better place for many people.