Oleander flowers

 Recently two temple boards in Kerala banned the use of oleander flowers in the temples of the Kerala after an incident when a woman chewed this flower and died

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1. All India flowers are commonly known as Nerium oleander or roseway .

2. It can grow up to 2 to 6 m tall. Most of these flowers grow in cluster, they are colour varied from white pink to red and often produce sweet scent 

3. Distributed in Northwest Africa, Iberian and Italian Peninsula, Southern Asia as far east as Yunnan China

4. It is mostly located near stream beds in river valleys, also located in subtropical ranges such as in mild oceanic climate are also suitable for the growth. It is also grown in Switzerland, southern and western Germany .

5. This flower is mostly grown and used as ornamental plant in parks alongside road as well as in private gardens.

6. These plants can tolerate temperature as low as minus 10 degree Celsius. It can tolerate poor soils, intense heat, salt spray as well as regular water supply.

7. Their colours varies from solid white,  red to pink

8. historically this plant has been considered as poisonous plant because it contain many toxic compounds such as Cardiac glycosides and Oleandrin ,folinerin and Digitoxigenin.

9. Ingestion of this plant affects gastro intestinal system heart and the nervous system as well ..

Symptoms include are nausea, diarrhea, vomiting neurodisorder, psychological illness, cardiotoxicity, bradycardia, ventricular fibrillation, hyperventilation, unstable Arrhythmias, blurred vision ,vision disturbances , skin irritation, dermatitis, eye inflammation and many more

They are the fastest growing evergreen plants available in Europe and Asia. In Kerala where they are banned are known as Arali and kanaveeram.

It is also used as traditional medicine where Ayurveda describe it for treating chronic and severe skin conditions including leprosy. It is used for the treatment of infected bones skin disease itching caused by certain microbes and parasites.