Oleander leaves

A 59-year-old man developed third-degree atrioventricular block after using an extract of Nerium oleander transdermally to treat psoriasis (24). A fatality due to drinking a herbal tea prepared from N. oleander leaves, erroneously believed to be eucalyptus leaves, has been reported (25). 

Dr. F. Warren Lovell, Ventura County s coroner, says he knows of two oleander poisoning cases—one in which a %-year-old woman in. Northern California committed suicide by eating oleander leaves and a case in which a Haitian herb doctor in Florida prescribed oleander tea for ailing patients and accidentally killed one. 

These results confirm that expression of IAA-genes alone is sufficient to initiate the development of knots on oleander, while cytokinins are necessary for the full expression of the disease symptoms (determining knot size). This finding also indicates that plant tissues (stems and leaves) react differently to various strains of the bacterium, and suggests that, besides phytohormones, other pathogenic factors could be involved in this host-pathogen interaction. The necrotic reaction of oleander leaves heavily inoculated with olive strains was interpreted as a possible form of hypersensitivity reaction [42]. 

C7H14O4, Mr 162.19, cryst., mp, 62-63°C, [a] +13° (H2OX The deoxy sugar of the toxic glycoside olean-drin (oleandrigenin a-L-oleandroside, from oleander leaves) and of macrolide antibiotics such as the aver-mectins and oleandomycin. 

Fig.7. Change in the relative intensity of chlorophyll fluorescence in whole, attached N. oleander leaves as a function of temperature. The plants were grown at 54732°C or at 20°/15 C as indicated. The leaves were heated at about TC/min. The fluorescence fiom the excitation of extremely low-intensity light was measured continuously. The temperature of the fluorescence increase was determined as the point of intersection of the lines extending the approximately linear portions of the curves as shown by the dashed lines.

In therapeutic doses, Cg. have long been used to strengthen the contraction of heart muscle. Higher doses are toxic. They bind to specific membrane receptors, which are thought to be part of the NaVK -ATPase complex. Endogenous compounds binding to the same receptors ( ouabain-like compounds or OLC) have been purified from several sources. [Y.Shimoni etal. Nature 307 (1984) 369-371 F.Abe etal. Presence of Cardenolides and Ursolic Acid from Oleander leaves in Larvae and Frass of Daphnis nerii Phytochemistry 42 (1996) 51-60]... 

Nerium indicum Mill. Jia Zhu Tao (Indian oleander) (leaf, stem, flower, root) Oleandrin (toxic), oleandrose, neriodorin, nerioderin, karabin, scopoletin, scopoline, neriodin, ursolic acid, adynerin 33>45° Treats psychosis, congestive heart failure, analgesic, emmenagogue. 

No, and he had certainly not been munching on a salad of oleander. The dried and powdered leaf of digitalis can be prescribed for internal use, as a laxative, and it is rumored to soothe a raging heart. Possibly he took an accidental overdose, in which case we need not fear a murder charge. The man s doctor must be interrogated. ... 

Gollan T., Turner N. C., and Schulze E. D. (1985) The responses of stomata and leaf gas exchange to vapor pressure deficits and soil water content III. In the sclerophyllous woody species Nerium oleander. Oecologia 65, 356-362. 

Botanical identification involves both macroscopical and microscopical inspection of the raw material. According to WHO, the macroscopical identity of plant materials is based on the shape, size, colour, surface characteristics, texture, fracture and appearance of the cut surface of leaves, herbs, seeds, fruits, barks, stolons, rhizomes and roots. Literature reports of poisonings and deaths resulting from the consumption of Digitalis collected by mistake for Comfrey (Symphytum) and of Oleander instead of Eucalyptus leaf tea highlights the importance of this simple and basic part of the quality procedure. 

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