1300

 Nerium oleander  L.

Synonyms	:	Nerium oleander var. indicum (Mill.)O.Deg. & Greenwell
Family	:	Apocynaceae
Local Name	:	English -    Oleander Malayalam –Velutha-alari
Flowering and Fruiting Period	:	November-May
Distribution	:	From Mediterranean through Persia, Afghanistan to West   Himalayas, cultivated elsewhere
Distribution in Kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Grown as ornamental plant
IUCN Status	:	LC
Endemic/Exotic	:	Exotic
Uses	:	Grown as ornamental plant. Oleander is used for heart conditions, asthma, epilepsy, cancer, painful menstrual periods, leprosy, malaria, ringworm
Key Botanical Characters: An erect evergreen shrub, branches glabrous with milky juice, young branches green. Leaves 10-15 x 1-2 cm, linear-lanceolate, tapering at both ends,. Flowers white, pink or dark red, single or double in cultivated, form, fragrant 3-4 cm across, peduncle and pedicel hairy, bracts small, 5-7.5 mm long. Calyx c. 6.25 mm long, divided into 5 linear,. Stamen included, filament short, Anthers connivent and adherent to stigma, connectives hairy, produced upward into long thread-like hairy appendages. Ovary with two distinct carpels, style filiform, thickened upward; stigma two lobed. Fruit 12-20 cm x 7:5 mm long.