Nerium oleander is toxic to cats, dogs and horses. The reported severity is critical. Also known as Oleander.
This plant is known to be potentially deadly!
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Ireland has no animal poison service for owners. Call your veterinarian. An Irish veterinarian can consult the Veterinary Poisons Information Service in the United Kingdom.
Giftinformationscentralen stopped answering questions about animals on 1 July 2018. Call your veterinarian or an animal hospital.
Drooling Abdominal Pain Diarrhea Colic Depression Death Vomiting Cardiac Arrhythmias Weak Pulse Shock Weakness Cardiovascular Collapse Difficulty Breathing Dilated Pupils
The color of each symptom follows the severity scale above.
Nerium oleander, the oleander, is a shrub or small tree native to the Mediterranean region east to southern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal east to India and Myanmar; the Flora of China also cites it as native in Yunnan in China. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Nerium, belonging to subfamily Apocynoideae of the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is also cultivated widely in temperate and subtropical areas as an introduced ornamental and landscaping plant.
Oleander is a poisonous plant, containing the toxic steroidal aglycone cardenolide-type cardiac glycosides odorosiside, adigoside, and oleandrin, especially when consumed in large amounts. These compounds have a narrow therapeutic index and are toxic when ingested. Adverse effects after ingestion include weakness, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, headache, stomach pain, and death. Toxicity studies of animals concluded that birds and rodents were observed to be relatively insensitive to the administered oleander cardiac glycosides. Other mammals, however, such as dogs and humans, are relatively sensitive to the effects of cardiac glycosides and the clinical manifestations of "glycoside intoxication". It is also hazardous to animals such as sheep, horses, cattle, and other grazing animals, with as little as 100 g being enough to kill an adult horse. Plant clippings are especially dangerous to horses, as they are sweet. In July 2009, several horses were poisoned in this manner from the leaves of the plant. Symptoms of a poisoned horse include severe diarrhoea and abnormal heartbeat. This is aptly reflected in the plant's Sanskrit name aśvamāra (अश्वमार), a compound of aśva "horse" and māra "killing". In reviewing oleander toxicity cases seen in-hospital, Lanford and Boor concluded that, except for children who might be at greater risk, "the human mortality associated with oleander ingestion is generally very low, even in cases of moderate intentional consumption (suicide attempts)." In 2000, a rare instance of death from oleander poisoning occurred when two toddlers adopted from an orphanage ate the leaves from a neighbor's shrub in El Segundo, California.
Also recorded as Ceylone Rose, Ceylonrose, Ceylons Rose, Dog-Bane, Double Oleander and Rose Laurel.
More from the Apocynaceae family:
Countries with the most wild observations, from GBIF data.