Franklin D.Roosevelt   10   "Little flower- but if I could understand What you are, root and all, and all in all, I should Know what God and man is." Alfred Lord Tennyson   Oleander Research   Plant research is often highly technical requiring sophisticated laboratory facilities, years of background and training in botanical sciences, and many more years of painstaking experimentation and documentation. Current research is focused on the various cardenolide glycosides and other constituents in oleanders and their pharmaceutical applications, especially with regard to cancer. Known historically to have been used to treat cancerous ulcers and exter

Magnolia Willis Sealy   11 No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture  comparable to that of the garden. Thomas Jefferson   Galveston, the Oleander City   More than any city in the United States, Galveston, Texas, has treasured the oleander. In 1841, Joseph Osterman, a prominent businessman of the day and a merchant and ship owner, brought the first plants from Jamaica as gifts for his wife and his sister-in-law Mrs. Isadore Dyer. These first oleanders, a single white, and a double pink later named after Mrs. Dyer, were planted on the grounds of their homes. Mrs. Dyer loved the flowers and propagated many pl

  L. Lovenberg  1   Flowers are the moments representation Of things that are in themselves eternal. Sri Aurobindo   Oleanders and the Apocynaceae Family   Oleanders are members of one of the most colorful groups of plants in the horticultural kingdom, the Apocynaceae or Dogbane Family. The family was named by A.L.de Jussieu in 1789. Accounts as to the number of genera are varied with Hortus III of the L.H. Bailey Hortorium citing about 130 and the Royal Horticultural Society's Dictionary o

5   There is no monotony in flowers, they are ever unfolding  new charms, developing new forms and revealing new features of interest and beauty to those who love them. Joan Wright     Selected Oleander Cultivars   It would be almost an impossible task to attempt to photograph and describe in detail all the oleander cultivars in existence today, many of which are commercially unavailable. It would also lead to a massive, unwieldy tome that no one would read! While only about fifty varieties were offered in southern nurseries in the United States during the 1940's, our most recent estimate of varieties in cultivation is between 400 and 500

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein Glossary Anther: The pollen-bearing part of the stamen. Apical fringe: The top portion of the corona which is usually dissected into a fringe. Bicarpellate: Composed of two carpels. A carpel is one of the units that compose a pistil or ovary. Bract: A modified leaf, usually smaller than true leaves and associated with the flowers. They may be colorful and showy as in poinsettias and bougainvilleas. Calyx: The outer whorl of floral envelopes, composed of separate or united sepals. Campanulate: Bell-shaped. Caudex: The swollen stem base of certain plants. Coma:

  Barbara Bush 2   ... It is strange that a little mud should echo with sounds, syllables and letters should rise up and call a mountain popocatapetl, And a green-leafed wood Oleande.. .  W.H. Turner, Talking With Soldiers   Nomenclature Origin of the Latin Name   Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, a botanist of the late 17th century (1656-1708), established the genus Nerion in 1700; the name was later Latinized by Linnaeus who, in 1737, changed it to Nerium as it is known today. The best description we have for the origin of the genus is fr

Maureen Elizabeth 'Kewpie' Gaido November 11, 1916 -August 19, 1995 Clarence Grant Pleasants April 4, 1930 - December 27, 1995   12   He who is born with a silver spoon in his mouth  is generally considered a fortunate person, but his  good fortune is small compared to that of the happy mortal who enters this world  with a passion for flowers in his soul. Celia Thaxter   Distinguished People   Who Have Contributed to the Worldwide Appreciation of Oleanders   We begin this section by honoring two people who have been the forerunners in advancing the cause of oleanders; "Kewpie" Gaido, t

Under the branches Of the cherry-trees in bloom, None are strangers there. Issa   Acknowledgements   We who love plants and flowers are especially blessed for we belong to one of the world's largest and most beneficent families, those who garden. To work with the earth, to witness her infinite manifestations of beauty, birth and fruition, to share with friends in every geographical climate plants, seeds and horticultural experiences, to awaken each day to new exploration within and without, to plant a seed or a tree, to marvel at the song of a bird or the fragrance of a blossom, and to witness beauty beyond description imbues one with an eternal sense of

13   Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a lift by what we give. Norman MacEwan   International Oleander Society   Through the vision and initiative of Clarence Pleasants and Kewpie Gaido, the National Oleander Society was founded in Galveston in May of 1967 (the name was later changed to the International Oleander Society) and the society has been instrumental in popularizing oleanders in America ever since. During my last visit with Kewpie in June 1995, just months before her untimely passing, she related the story of how the society came into being. After reading a revi

9   And since to took at things in bloom  Fifty swings are little room,  About the woodlands I wilt go To see the cherry hung with snow. A.E.Housman A Shropshire Lad   Oleanders in the Landscape   In a letter to Clarence Pleasants in Norfolk, Virginia, in July of 1964, Donald J. u nre Superintendent of the Botanical Gardens in Bermuda wrote: "Bermuda is indeed famous for its oleanders. The plant is so prolific and well established that visitors may be forgiven for considering it a native, when in actual fact, it is an introduced subject.... Nathaniel Lord Britton, Ph.D, Sc.D., LL.D., one time Director-In-Chief of the New York Botanical Gardens, had