Cascabela Thevetia

Planting and care

Cascabela thevetia is an evergreen tropical shrub or small tree. Its leaves are willow-like, linear-lanceolate, and glossy green in color. They are covered in waxy coating to reduce water loss (typical of oleanders). Its stem is green turning silver/gray as it ages.[2] Flowers bloom from summer to fall. The long funnel-shaped sometimes-fragrant yellow (less commonly apricot, sometimes white) flowers are in few-flowered terminal clusters.[2] Its fruit is deep red-black in color encasing a large seed that bears some resemblance to a ‘Chinese lucky nut.

Caring for Cascabela Thevetia

• Yellowing of new leaves indicates over watering.

Harvesting

Cascabela thevetia is cultivated as an ornamental plant, and planted as large flowering shrub or small ornamental tree standards in gardens and parks in temperate climates. In frost prone areas it is container plant, in the winter season brought inside a greenhouse or as a house plant. It tolerates most soils and is drought tolerant

Typical uses of Cascabela Thevetia

Special features:

Ornamental use: Used as an ornamental plant in landscapes, in parks, and along roadsides.

Medicinal use: Nerium has various medicinal uses and the leaves and flowers are thought to have actions as tonic, cardio tonic, diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic and expectorant. Leaves and flowers are also used to treat malaria and as traditional medicine it induces the termination of embryo. The tincture or decoction is been used externally to reduce swelling and scabies. The root powder is an external remedy for hemorrhoids and ulcers around genitals. Leaves and bark is treated as insecticide, rat poison and parasitic. The plant of Indian oleander is thought to possess anti-cancerous activities.

References

• http://www.webindia123.com/garden/flowers/oleander.htm
• http://www.spicesmedicinalherbs.com/nerium-indicum.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascabela_thevetia