Nerium oleander, Oleander,
دفلى, Diflà, הרדוף הנחלים
"Listen to me, my faithful children,
and blossom like a rose growing by a stream of water."
Sirach 39:13 (Ben Sira, circa 180–175 BCE)
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| | Scientific name: |
| Nerium oleander L. |
| Common name: |
| Oleander |
| Hebrew name: |
| הרדוף הנחלים |
| Arabic name: |
| دفلى, Diflà |
| Family: |
| Apocynaceae, הרדופיים |
Date Picture Taken: April 6, 2008
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| | Life form: |
| Phanerophyte shrub |
| Leaves: |
| Alternate, whorled, entire |
| Flowers: |
| Pink |
| Flowering Period: |
| March, April, May, June, July, August |
| Habitat: |
| Humid habitats |
| Distribution: |
| Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Deserts and extreme deserts, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon |
| Chorotype: |
| Mediterranean |
| Summer shedding: |
| Perenating |
Date Picture Taken: April 27, 2006
Derivation of the botanical name:
Nerium, Oleander. Rose bay. The classical Greek name.
oleander, olea, ελαια, an olive; lorandrum, Late Latin, rhododendron; Nerium.
- The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
Pliny the Elder book XVI 79 :"The oleander, as is shown by its name, comes from the Greeks; it is an evergreen that resembles a rose-tree, and throw out shoots for the stems; it is poiseness for cattle and for goats and sheeps, but for man it serves as an antidote against the poisons of snakes."
H.B.Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible: "-unequalled for the gorgeous beauty of its flowers, which shed a glowing sheet of pink over the fringe of every lake and water-course for several weeks in the early summer. This plant, the Oleander (Nerium oleander), undoubtedly indigenous, is not specially mentioned in Scripture."
In folk medicine it treats dermatitis, edema, hypertension and ringworm.
Date Picture Taken: May 4, 2008
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