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Botany
Errect, smooth
shrub, 1.5 to 3 mteters high with a cream-colored sticky resinous
juice. Leaves are in whorls of 3 or 4, linear-lanceolate, 10-15
cm long, with numerous horizontal nerves. Flowers are showy,
sweet-scented, single or double, 4-5 cm in diameter, white, pink
or red, borne in termianl inflorescense (cymes). Fruit is cylindric,
paired, with deep linear striations, 15-20 cm long. Seeds are
numerous and compressed, with a tuft of fine, shining, white,
silky hairs.
Distribution
Cultivated for
its flowers; nowwhere established.
Constituents
and properties
Glycoside, oleadrin;
tannin; volatile oil, 0.25%.
Nerium oleander's leaves contain two principles: neriin and oleandrin,
glucosides with properties similar to digitalin.
The seeds contain phytosterin and l-strophnathin. The bark contains
toxic glycosides: rosaginin and nerlin, volatile oil, fixed oil.
Nerium odorum's bark yielded two toxic bitter principlesneriodorin
and neriodorein. Another toxic principle is karabin. Both karabin
and neriodorin are probably resins, rather than glucosides.
The pharmacologic actions
of of neriin and oleandrin resemble those of digitalis glucosides.
In human beings, toxicity manifests as nausea, vomiting, colic,
decreased appetite, dizziness, drowsiness, bradycardia and irregular
heart beats, pupillary dilation, and sometimes unconsciousness
attributed to digitalis poisoning.
Parts
used and preparation
Bark and leaves.
Folkloric
uses:
- Herpes zoster
(skin): Crush leaves, mix with oil and apply on lesions. Do not
apply on raw surface. Milky juice of the plant is irritating.
Caution: Not to be taken internally.
- Herpes simplex: Mix 1 cup of chopped leaves and bark with 2
tablespoons of oil. Apply to lesions 3 times daily.
- Ringworm: Chop a foot long branch and mix with 1 cup chopped
fresh young leaves. Mix the juice with 5 drops of fresh coconut
oil. Apply 3 times daily.
- Snake bites: Pound 10 leaves and a piece of branch. Apply poultice
to the wound.
- Root, locally and internally, used for abortion.
- Roots, made into paste with water, used for hemorrhoids.
- Roots and bark used externally for eczema, snake bites and
as insecticide.
- Fresh leaves applied to tumors to hasten suppuration.
Availability
Wild-crafted
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