Medicinal flowers: oleander

I. Source

NeriumindicumMill. Alias willow leaf peach, half a year red, peach bamboo, pen peach. It has been introduced into our country for a long time, and the bamboo was recorded in the Pingfang Spectrum of the Ming Dynasty. Although our country is not the hometown of oleander, it has been cultivated for more than 500 years. It is easy to grow oleander, so potted plants are very common in the south and north. It can be cultivated in the open field in the south of the Yangtze River Basin in China, and it can be seen everywhere in Chongqing. Potted plants are used in the north. The temperature is below 5 ℃ to enter the room, and the temperature is more than 5 ℃ to leave the room.

II. Plant characteristics

Evergreen shrubs, also growing into small trees, up to above 500cm; leaf blade leathery, verticillate, lanceolate, 16-26cm, 1-3cm wide, apex acute, base cuneate, middle rib conspicuous; Cymes terminal, pink in color, blooming from June to October. Because the leaves are like bamboo leaves and the flowers are like peach blossoms, they are named oleander.

III. Ecological characteristics

Oleander has strong adaptability, positive trees, sexual preference for warm and humid climate and sunny environment, and can tolerate drought with low intensity. The environment with a temperature of 15 ℃ blossoms all year round, the flowering period is long, it is not resistant to water stains and cold. The cold tolerance of young seedlings is weaker than that of adult plants, and the cold tolerance of white flowers is slightly stronger than that of adult plants, followed by safflower varieties, yellow flowers are the least cold-tolerant, and the temperature is lower than 0 ℃, so the temperature of potted oleander is controlled at 5-10 ℃ to overwinter. It is resistant to heat and can withstand drought to a lesser extent. It has a very unusual ability to resist smoke and dust and a variety of toxic gases, but it is left alone in a dusty environment, and it plays a special role in purifying and protecting the environment. The root has strong germinating power. The requirement of soil is not strict, general soil, including alkaline soil, can grow, but the sandy loam with loose, fertile and good drainage is suitable.