Follow us on FACEBOOK
Dominica Botanic Gardens
  • Home
  • About
    • Introduction to Website
    • A Brief History
    • Plan of Gardens
    • Contemporary Commentary
  • Botanic Gardens
    • Selected Trees and Shrubs
    • Medicinal Plants
    • Gardens Activities
    • Florida's Fairchild Garden
    • Parrot and Small Animal Sanctuary
    • Birds of the Gardens
    • Three Virtual Tours
    • Panoramic Views Today
    • Early Panoramic Views
    • Hurricane David's Ravages
    • Future Developments
    • Curators and Administrators
    • Reports and Documents
    • Getting Involved
    • Related Links
  • Hosted Sites
    • Honorees
    • Island Scholars
    • Cabinet Photos
    • Treasures of the Cathedral
    • Diaspora Policy Paper
  • DAAS
  • Contact

Selected Trees and Shrubs
Nerium oleander, Common name: Oleander


​Plant Family: Belongs to the Apocynaceae family, which includes Frangipani (Plumeria rubra) and the large Ditta Bark Tree(Alstonia scholaris).

Description: Moderate size, very attractive flowering shrub, growing to 8 m tall (25 ft), with thin erect branches and hairy young stems; leaves dark green, leathery, opposite, in whorls of three, are elongated, narrowly elliptical with pointed ends and conspicuous midvein,13-20 cm long (5-8 in); flowers pink (var roseum), white (var album), cream or red, bell-shaped, 4 cm or more long (1.6 in) and 2.5-4 cm across (1-1.5 in), in terminal clusters, with flowering profuse and continuous; narrow pod-like fruits are 10-20 cm long (4-8 in); several “single” and “double” varieties exist; plant contains a poisonous milky sap, which in young branches is clear; all parts of the plant are poisonous to humans and livestock, ingestion causes vomiting, abdominal pain, convulsions, coma and death.

Natural Habitat: Specially suited to dry, sunny areas at lower elevations; propagation by seeds, cuttings or layering.

Origin and Distribution: Native to the Mediterranean and Eurasia; now common throughout the Caribbean and rest of tropical and sub-tropical world.

Uses: Very popular ornamental, planted singly or in banks; though poisonous if ingested, milky juice used as remedy for skin diseases.

Indigenous Legends: Reportedly, deaths have even occurred from food cooked on Oleander wood fires through inhalation of smoke from the burning wood.
​
References:
G.W. Lennox and S.A. Seddon. Flowers of the Caribbean. Macmillan, London 1978 University Press 1972
Dorothy P. Storer. Familiar Trees and Cultivated Plants of Jamaica. Macmillan, London 1964.
C.D. Adams. Flowering Plants of Jamaica. University of the West Indies, Mona, Glasgow University Press. 1972
H.F. Macmillan. Tropical Planting and Gardening. Macmillan, London 1956
Penelope N. Honeychurch. Caribbean Wild Plants and Their Uses. Macmillan, London, 1986
Robert A. DeFilipps. Useful Plants of the Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1998
​​Gardens Introduction

​

Preface - How it Began
Introduction to Website
A Brief History
Plan of Gardens 
Contemporary Commentary​
​Trees, Shrubs, Birds

​
​
Selected Trees and Shrubs
Medicinal Plants
​
Gardens Activities
  Florida's Fairchild Garden
Parrot/Animal Sanctuary
Birds of the Gardens
Garden Views

​
​
Three Virtual Tours
Panoramic Views Today
Early Panoramic Views
 
Hurricane David's Ravages
Future Developments
Curators/Administrators
Reports and Documents
  
Getting Involved
Related Links
Sub-sites

​

Honorees
Island Scholars
Cabinet Photos
​​Treasures of the Cathedral

​Diaspora Policy Paper
​

Visit the DAAS  Website
Picture
HOME
Site by
CONTACT 
Picture

Copyright © -  Davison Shillingford, Clayton Shillingford and (the late) Raglan Riviere