Nerium oleander OLEANDER
20 fresh seeds.

Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse. Do not use seed from pods infected with the bacterial disease 'oleander knot'. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter before planting them out in early summer. Cuttings of half-ripe side shoots, August/September in a frame. Good percentage. Cuttings of mature leading shoots.

The leaves and the flowers are cardiotonic, diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic, expectorant and sternutatory. A decoction of the leaves has been applied externally in the treatment of scabies, and to reduce swellings. This is a very poisonous plant, containing a powerful cardiac toxin, and should only be used with extreme caution. The root is powerfully resolvent. Because of its poisonous nature it is only used externally. It is beaten into a paste with water and applied to chancres and ulcers on the penis. An oil prepared from the root bark is used in the treatment of leprosy and skin diseases of a scaly nature. The whole plant is said to have anticancer properties.