Nerium Oleander

This is a well-known plant, often seen in

cultivation, and seemingly a favorite with many. It belongs to a

poisonous family and is a dangerous poison. A decoction of its

leaves forms a wash, employed in the south of Europe to destroy

vermin; and its powdered wood and bark constitute the basis of an

efficacious rat-poison. Children have died from eating the

flowers. A party of soldiers in Spain, having meat to roast in

camp, procured spits and skewers of the tree, which there attains

a large size. The wood having been stripped of its bark, and

brought in contact with the meat, was productive of fatal

consequences, for seven men died out of the twelve who partook of

the meat and the other five were for some time dangerously ill.