Nerium Oleander

For most gardeners, the oleander is the symbolic shrub of sunny holidays spent by the Mediterranean, forming large, bushy hedges with multicoloured blooms, single, double or even triple flowers. The genus name, Nerium, comes from its ancient Greek name, Nerion, derived from Nereus, a sea god in Greek mythology. Another interpretation would link Nerium to neros, the Greek word for wet. The liquid element underlying these two interpretations is undoubtedly explained by the fact that the wild oleander never grows very far from water. Its long roots reach deep into the soil to draw freshness from it, even in dry riverbeds.