Witnessed by: TCM · Ayurveda · Western · Unani
Oleander (Nerium oleander), of the Apocynaceae family. Large evergreen shrub with leathery lance-shaped leaves and showy pink, white or red flowers; native range: the Mediterranean basin through the Near East to the Indian subcontinent and southern China, on dry stony watercourses. Globally recognized as karavira in Sanskrit, kaner in Hindi, jia zhu tao (夹竹桃) in Chinese, diflaa (دفلى) in Arabic, and rose bay · rose laurel · sweet oleander in English. The part used is leaf and root bark — used almost wholly EXTERNALLY; every part violently toxic. Stiff, dark, glossy leaves with a pale midrib, very bitter and nauseous; the whole plant exudes a milky acrid sap.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
OLEANDER
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Oleander
- Scientific name
- Nerium oleander L.
- Family
- Apocynaceae
Form
- Part used
- leaf and root bark — used almost wholly EXTERNALLY; every part violently toxic
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- TCM
- bitter
- Ayurveda
- pungent (katu) · bitter (tikta) · astringent (kashaya)
- Western
- bitter · acrid
- Unani
- bitter · acrid
Temperature
- TCM
- cold
- Ayurveda
- heating (ushna)
- Western
- cool
- Unani
- hot & dry (2nd–3rd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- TCM
- Heart
- Western
- heart · skin
- Unani
- heart · uterus
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- TCM
- a cardiotonic acting like digitalis (strengthens a failing heartbeat, promotes urine) — but toxic, and used only in strict, tiny measured dose
- Ayurveda
- kushthaghna (heals obstinate skin disease) and krimighna (kills parasites/vermin) applied externally; purified and micro-dosed as a hridya (cardiac) in classical practice
- Western
- historically a cardiac tonic and diuretic in the manner of foxglove, now abandoned internally; external wash for scabies and ringworm
- Unani
- dafi-e-jild amraz (for skin diseases), qatil-e-deedan (kills lice and vermin) externally; the root reputed an abortifacient
Cautions
Contraindications: never self-administered internally; contraindicated in pregnancy (abortifacient), in children, and alongside any heart medication; keep from children and livestock
Toxicity: AMONG THE MOST DEADLY of medicinal plants. Every part — leaf, flower, stem, root, seed, sap — contains cardiac glycosides (oleandrin, neriine, digitoxigenin). Ingestion of even a few leaves can kill: nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and bloody diarrhoea, then bradycardia, heart block, ventricular arrhythmia and hyperkalaemia, with drowsiness, tremor, seizures and cardiac arrest. The smoke of burning wood, the water flowers have stood in, and honey from the flowers are all poisonous; deaths have followed roasting meat on its twigs. Poisoning is managed as for digoxin overdose, with digoxin-specific antibody fragments where available.
Interactions
- Western
- cardiac glycosides: additive cardiac-glycoside effect with digoxin/digitalis, driving lethal arrhythmia · diuretics: diuretic-induced hypokalaemia sharply potentiates the glycosides' cardiac toxicity
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