Apocynaceae
Nerium

Nerium oleander L.

First published in Sp. Pl.: 209 (1753)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Medit. to Myanmar. It is a shrub or tree and grows primarily in the subtropical biome. It is used as a poison and a medicine, has environmental uses and for food.

Descriptions

Kew Species Profiles

General Description
Nerium oleander, commonly known as oleander, is a highly toxic plant that has been cultivated since ancient times.

Nerium oleander is a highly toxic ornamental shrub widely cultivated in the Mediterranean. It has been grown since ancient times and features in many of the Roman wall paintings in Pompeii.

Alexander the Great in his military campaigns is said to have lost men as a result of eating meat skewered on highly poisonous Nerium twigs.

Species Profile
Geography and distribution

Native to the Mediterranean region, Iran, the Indian subcontinent and southern China.

Description

Overview:  An evergreen shrub (or small tree) that grows to approximately 6 m. A sticky latex is exuded if the stem is cut.

Leaves: Leaves are usually in groups of three and narrowly lanceolate.

Flowers: The flowers are tubular with five lobes, red or pink in the wild, but may be white, cream, yellow or purple in cultivars, and double forms have also been selected. Some are scented.

Fruits: The fruit is composed of a pair of follicles that split along one side to release the seeds. The seeds are oblong, with a plume of hairs at one end.

Threats and conservation

Oleander is not threatened globally. Plants are threatened in the wild in some areas through excessive development, but will persist in cultivation.

Uses Ornamental

Nerium oleander is widely cultivated as an ornamental shrub or as an informal hedge in warm-temperate and dry subtropical regions, and as a plant for the conservatory in cooler climates.

Pest control

Oleander is highly poisonous to humans, pets, livestock and birds due to the presence of cardiac glycosides, mainly oleandrin. Ingestion causes nausea, vomiting, cardiac arrhythmias, hypotension (low blood pressure) and death. Its sap has been used as rat poison. The leaves also show insecticidal activity against sugarcane mite and citrus leafminer.

Medicinal

Oleandrin is used for treating cardiac conditions in patients who cannot tolerate digitalis. In traditional medicine, the leaves have been used for a variety of medicinal purposes, including the treatment of heart diseases, as a diuretic, antibacterial, and against snake-bite.The roots have been used externally in traditional medicine for treating cancer, ulcers and leprosy.

Other

In Western Sahara the ash from Nerium oleander is mixed with saltpetre to make gunpowder.

Millennium Seed Bank: Seed storage

Kew's Millennium Seed Bank Partnership aims to save plant life world wide, focusing on plants under threat and those of most use in the future. Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in our seed bank vault.

Two collections of Nerium oleander seeds are held in Kew's Millennium Seed Bank based at Wakehurst in West Sussex.

See Kew's Seed Information Database for further information on Nerium oleander seeds

Cultivation

A tender plant, Nerium oleander can survive light frosts, but show signs of frost damage. It is a common landscape plant in tropical and subtropical climates and grows in a wide range of soils. It can withstand drought and salt spray, being widely used in coastal areas, and reacts well to full sun or partial shade. The species can be propagated by semi-ripened cuttings in summer or seeds. Hard pruning helps to maintain its shape.

Distribution
China, India
Ecology
Found mostly in seasonally dry rocky watercourses, in full sun.
Conservation
Least Concern according to IUCN Red List criteria.
Hazards

All parts of the plant are extremely toxic if eaten; contact with the sap may cause dermatitis; avoid inhaling smoke if burning plants.

[KSP]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/202961/13537523

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Bernal, R., G. Galeano, A. Rodríguez, H. Sarmiento y M. Gutiérrez. 2017. Nombres Comunes de las Plantas de Colombia. http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co/nombrescomunes/

Vernacular
adelfa, adelfo, alejandría, amaranto, andelfo, azucena de La Habana, azuceno, azuceno de La Habana, berbería, clavel habano, delfo, ébano, flor de La Habana, habana, habano, laurel, laurel de Judea, laurel rosa, rosa de La Habana, yolanda, yucatán
[UNAL]

Apocynaceae, E.A. Omino. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2002

Morphology General Habit
A shrub or small tree.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves opposite or ternate, thick and poisonous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Attractive, fragrant flowers that are white, crimson or pink.
[FTEA]

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Vernacular
Oleander rose-bay (English).
Morphology Leaves
Leaves linear-lanceolate, 6–15 x 1.2–3 cm, acute at the apex
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
Calyx-lobes 4–8 mm long
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corolla pink or sometimes white or red; tube 12–20 mm long; lobes 20–25 mm long, obtuse
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Follicles 8–16 x 0.5–1 cm, erect, reddish-brown.
Distribution
Cultivated, for example in N1 and S2.
[FSOM]

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution
Cultivada en Colombia; Alt. 0 - 1760 m.; Andes, Islas Caribeñas, Llanura del Caribe, Valle del Cauca, Valle del Magdalena.
Morphology General Habit
Subarbusto, arbusto
[CPLC]

Distribution
Biogeografic region: Andean, Caribbean. Elevation range: 0–1760 m a.s.l. Cultivated in Colombia. Colombian departments: Antioquia, Atlántico, Bogotá DC, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Quindío, San Andrés y Providencia, Valle del Cauca.
Habit
Shrub, Subshrub.
Conservation
IUCN Red List Assessment (2021): LC.
Ecology
Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, savanna, shrubland, native grassland, artificial - terrestrial.
[UPFC]

Uses

Use
Cultivated as an ornamental The plant contains very toxic cardiac glycosides.
[FSOM]

Use Environmental
Environmental uses.
Use Food
Used for food.
Use Materials
Used as material.
Use Medicines
Medical uses.
Use Poisons
Poisons.
[UPFC]

Common Names

English
Oleander
english
oleander
unknown
difleh (Arabic), hyamara (Hind), kanker (Mar), karvira (Sans), laurier rose, oleander, oleander 'hyamara'

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • EBC Common Names

    • Common Names from Kew's Economic Botany Collection https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/economic-botany-collection

  • Flora of Somalia

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Living Collection Database

    • Common Names from Kew's Living Collection Database

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Kew Species Profiles

    • Kew Species Profiles
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0