Research - Oleander
This is text taken from online sources, that I have then highlighted information i want to use for my own text - large parts of unneeded information was removed - accidently deleted some text after i used it in my work
Green - information on the plant it self
Pink - background information/stories on people who has eaten or used it
(Text) Described by Pliny the Elder in Ancient Rome, oleander is a beautiful plant known for its striking flowers. Though commonly grown as a hedge and ornamental, all parts of the oleander plant are deadly and contain lethal cardiac glycosides known as oleandrin and neriine. If eaten, oleander can cause vomiting, diarrhea, erratic pulse, seizures, coma, and death, and contact with the leaves and sap is known to be a skin irritant to some people. Indeed, the toxins in oleander are so strong that people have become ill after eating honey made by bees that visited the flowers! Fortunately, fatalities from oleander poisoning are rare, as the plant is very bitter and thus quickly deters anyone sampling the vegetation.
(text) Nerium oleander (/ˈnɪəriəm ... / NEER-ee-əm),[2] commonly known as oleander or rosebay,[3] is a shrub or small tree cultivated worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas as an ornamental and landscaping plant.
Nerium grows to 2–6 metres (7–20 feet) tall. It is most commonly grown in its natural shrub form, but can be trained into a small tree with a single trunk. It is tolerant to both drought and inundation, but not to prolonged frost. White, pink or red five-lobed flowers grow in clusters year-round, peaking during the summer. The fruit is a long narrow pair of follicles, which splits open at maturity to release numerous downy seeds.
Nerium is a poisonous plant but its bitterness renders it unpalatable to humans and most animals, so poisoning cases are rare and the general risk for human mortality is low. Ingestion of larger amounts may cause nausea, vomiting, excess salivation, abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea and irregular heart rhythm. Prolonged contact with sap may cause skin irritation, eye inflammation and dermatitis.
Description
[edit]
The leaves are in pairs or whorls of three, thick and leathery, dark-green, narrow lanceolate, 5–21 centimetres (2–8 inches) long and 1–3.5 cm (3⁄8–13⁄8 in) broad, and with an entire margin filled with minute reticulate venation web typical of eudicots. The leaves are light green and very glossy when young, maturing to a dull dark green.
The flowers grow in clusters at the end of each branch; they are white, pink to red,[Note 1] 2.5–5 cm (1–2 in) diameter, with a deeply 5-lobed fringed corolla round the central corolla tube. They are often, but not always, sweet-scented.[Note 2] The fruit is a long narrow pair of follicles 5–23 cm (2–9 in) long, which splits open at maturity to release numerous downy seeds.
Oleander is a small bush, that can be trained to grow as a small tree, that grows between 7-20 ft tall. It's stem will splay outwards as it matures in age, it having a glaucous bloom for the first 5 years of its life, maturing into a greyish bark. Oleander grows thick and leathery leaves between 5-21 cm long and 1-3.5 cm wide. The leaves begin as glossy and light green but matures into a dull dark green colour. This bush grows red, pink or white flowers in clusters at the end of each branch, these growing between 2.5-5 in diameter. These flowers often have a sweet scent to them, however not often. Oleander is tolerant in both droughts and floods however it not in prolonged frost, the flower clusters growing year round but hitting it peak during the summer months.
