Nerium oleander

The common oleander is in the dogbane or Apocynaceae family and is native to many locations in southwest Asia. It reaches up to 2–6 m in height.

• Its erect stems splay outward as they mature; first-year stems have a glaucous bloom, while mature stems have a grayish bark.
• Leaves are in pairs or whorls of 3, thick and leathery, dark-green, narrow lanceolate, 5–21 cm long and 1–3.5 cm broad, and with an entire margin filled with a minute reticulate venation web typical of eudicots; leaves are light green and very glossy when young.
• Flowers grow in clusters at the end of each branch; they are white, pink to red, 2.5–5 cm in diameter, with a deeply 5-lobed, fringed corolla round the central corolla tube.
• Fruit is a long narrow pair of follicles 5–23 cm long, which splits open at maturity to release numerous downy seeds.