NERIUM O DO RUM. 



OLEANDER. ROSE-BAY. 



NATURAL ORDER, APOCYNACE,^. 



J|T would, perhaps, be difficult to find a plant better known, or 

 more familiar to the eyes of Anglo-Indians, than that in the 

 accompanying plate. 



It is seen in its greatest perfection in the Upper Provinces, 

 also in the Deccan ; but still it would be difficult to find any garden in 

 India where one species or the other was not thriving. 



There are many varieties, single and double ; but the single pink 

 one is certainly the most common, and the double white equally rare. 



Ferminger thus discribes this bush : " A large spreading shrub, six 

 to eight feet high, throws up from the ground its numerous rod-like 

 stems, upon the summit of which is borne its foliage of narrow lanceolate 

 leaves, surmounted by a profusion of large cheerful flowers." 



During hot weather the Oleander is in most luxuriant blossom, espe- 

 cially when planted at the border of a tank or jheel. It requires no care, and 

 is easily propagated by layers or cuttings. It also 3'ields seed abundantly. 



Ainslie mentions that this shrub has many medicinal properties, 

 and that " the root itself taken internally is a poison." 



It is also mentioned in Powell's " Punj Plants" "as containing a 

 poisonous resin in the root, also in the bark and flowers." 



The milky juice which exudes, when a leaf is broken or the stem 

 injured, will be well known to all who have once attempted to pluck 

 any part of the plant ; it is of a milky whiteness, but is sticky and 

 disagreeable to the touch. 



I have never seen these plants attain any larger dimension than 

 " a large spreading shrub," but I find several species mentioned by 

 Roxburgh as " middling-sized trees," and three or four as " climbers," 

 or "twining" " scandent shrubs." 



" Nerium Coccinaeum," he says, " in its native soil grows to be a 

 large timber tree : the wood white, remarkably light, but firm and much 

 used by turners to make palkees, &c., where light strong wood is required." 



From the same valuable source I again quote, regarding the " Nerium 

 Pisidum " : "An extensive, perennial, woody climber, a native of Silhet 

 in Bengal. Its bark contains a quantity of fibrous matter, which the 

 natives of the country use as a substitute for hemp. In steeping some 

 of the young shoots in a fish pond in order to accelerate the removal of 

 the bark, and cleaning the fibres, many, if not the whole, of the fish were 

 killed, hence the specific name." — Roxburgh's " Flora Indica." 



From the leaves of another species, Ro.xburgh attempted to make 

 indigo, picking the leaves when first opening ; he has written a treatise 

 on the subject; but whether the industry has ever been extensively 

 developed I have never heard. 



The growth of the shrub depicted in this plate has well been 

 described as a "cluster of rods," each comes singly from the ground, 

 and if growing in the shade they are often drawn up to a great height 

 before expanding into leaves and flowers. 



