Oleanders are poisonous?

they grow everywhere i live. i just found this out. are they lethal?

Oleanders are poisonous?
Oleanders are extremely toxic and can affect young children a lot and can be lethal. They usually have two or more toxins that affect the way the heart works as well as the gastrointestinal areas of the body if consumed. Most toxins are found in the sap and bark of Oleanders, even after drying.
Reply:VERY poisonous. Don't worry, if you and your loved ones (including pets and livestock) don't eat them they won't kill you. If you or your pets do try to eat them, they taste really badly so it's unlikely to happen anyway.



You can also have problems getting scratched by oleanders, I used to have a big one and every time I cut it back I would get irritating scratches. I know a woman who got scratched on the eye by the pointy tip of a leaf and she had lots of problems with that eye getting irritated for a couple years after that.



I cut my big one back to the ground at least a half dozen times - it was probaby 40-50 years old, very large and established. I was trying to kill it because it killed anything I planted near it but it would always grow back. Finally one year I decided to get rid of it for good, I cut it back to the ground and dug out the root ball. It took about an hour of digging at it every night for a month - the roots are very bizzare, really tough and rubbery and they bleed this awful white gunk that is very sticky and if it gets on you and you don't wash it off right away it will burn.
Reply:Yes, very. Here, I'll quote from the wiki:



Oleander is one of the most poisonous plants and contains numerous toxic compounds, many of which can be deadly to people, especially young children. The toxicity of Oleander is considered extremely high and it has been reported that in some cases only a small amount had lethal or near lethal effects (Goetz 1998). The most significant of these toxins are oleandrin and neriine, which are cardiac glycosides (Goetz 1998). "Cardiac glycocides are naturally occurring" plant or animal compounds "whose actions include both beneficial and toxic effects on the heart" (Desai 2000). They are present in all parts of the plant, but are most concentrated in the sap. It is thought that Oleander may contain many other unknown or un-researched compounds that may have dangerous effects (Inchem 2005). Oleander bark contains rosagenin which is known for its strychnine-like effects. The entire plant including the milky white sap is toxic and any part can cause an adverse reaction. Oleander is also known to hold its toxicity even after drying. It is thought that a handful or 10-20 leaves consumed by an adult can cause an adverse reaction, and a single leaf could be lethal to an infant or child. According to the Toxic Exposure Surveillance System (TESS) in 2002 there were 847 known human poisonings in the United States related to Oleander (Watson 2003). There are innumerable reported suicidal cases of consuming mashed oleander seeds in South India. In animals, around 0.5 mg per kilogram of body weight is lethal to many animals, and various other doses will affect other animals (Inchem 2005). Most animals can suffer a reaction or death from this plant.
Reply:They are poisonous if you ingest (eat) them.

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