Species
+

Nerium oleander L.

Alheli extranjero, Ceylone Rose, Ceylonrose, Ceylons Rose

Climate known 52 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Nerium oleander, the oleander, is a shrub or small tree native to the Mediterranean region east to southern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal east to India and Myanmar; the Flora of China also cites it as native in Yunnan in China. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Nerium, belonging to subfamily Apocynoideae of the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is also cultivated widely in temperate and subtropical areas as an introduced ornamental and landscaping plant.

Text from Wikipedia, “Nerium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Nerium

Nerium oleander, the oleander, is a shrub or small tree native to the Mediterranean region east to southern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal east to India and Myanmar; the Flora of China also cites it as native in Yunnan in China. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Nerium, belonging to subfamily Apocynoideae of the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is also cultivated widely in temperate and subtropical areas as an introduced ornamental and landscaping plant.

Text from Wikipedia, “Nerium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Apocynaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Baleares, Corse, France +29
Wild records
379 in range· 48 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Jul, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
483mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Dec 74 mm (CHELSA)
Light
15–48DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to February and April in the northern hemisphere (October to February and April at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 483 mm a year, wettest December at 74 mm, driest July at 5 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 48 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 1.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Nerion oleandrum St.-Lég.; Nerium atropurpureum Bürger; Nerium coccineum Bürger; Nerium haquevillei Butteaud; Nerium indicum var. aurantiacum Poit. and 20 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to February and April in the northern hemisphere (October to February and April at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (346 mm of 483 mm) falls in October to February and April, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 14.2 °C against a yearly mean of 18.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to August and October.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 483 mm a year, wettest December at 74 mm, driest July at 5 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

483 mm a year at the habitat, 346 mm of it October to February and April. Wettest month December at 74 mm, driest July at 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 205 mm to 1277 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 48 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 48 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 12, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 1.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 1.4 °C, the absolute minimum -4.1 °C, about 2 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 6.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells 1.5 °C to 15.6 °C), warmest day 30.7 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 1.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 59% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 14 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Jul; mean night from 7 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 483 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 280 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -4.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 42.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost42.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)-4.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 15–48RH 54–59 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 280 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C14 / 10–2815 / 11–3118 / 13–3420 / 16–3724 / 19–3828 / 23–3631 / 26–3530 / 26–3527 / 24–3323 / 20–3118 / 15–2915 / 11–27
Night °C7 / 2–168 / 2–179 / 5–2012 / 7–2415 / 11–2618 / 15–2721 / 18–2621 / 18–2619 / 15–2516 / 11–2212 / 6–199 / 3–16
Rain mm52 / 7–14844 / 8–12342 / 10–9044 / 7–7333 / 5–8716 / 2–1185 / 1–2019 / 2–19632 / 5–17565 / 15–14867 / 9–17474 / 7–179
DLI18 / 14–3224 / 20–3733 / 29–4240 / 36–4644 / 40–4948 / 34–5048 / 28–5143 / 27–4635 / 29–4027 / 23–3419 / 15–3115 / 12–30
RH %58 / 50–6257 / 49–6155 / 46–6055 / 42–6055 / 43–6154 / 43–6354 / 43–6455 / 44–6657 / 48–6458 / 48–6258 / 50–6359 / 51–63

Each figure is the median across the 280 grid cells holding the 353 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1163:4306 (31.825, 35.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -4.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 1.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 280 distinct grid cells holding the 353 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1163:4306 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 32.00_35.625, lapse-corrected +126 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 290 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBaleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Greece, Italy, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Niger, Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Turkey, Gulf States, Oman, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Myanmar· introduced: Krym, Western Sahara, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, Senegal, Cameroon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, Ascension, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Madagascar, China South-Central, Hainan, Manchuria, China North-Central, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Bangladesh, Andaman Is., Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., New South Wales, Kermadec Is., New Zealand North, Gilbert Is., Nauru, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Line Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Hawaii, Arizona, California, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Bermuda, Trinidad-Tobago, Brazil South, Juan Fernández Is.
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker36.128, -5.84 · in the densest population, 94 records (25% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 379 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 48 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 250 km away. 442 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 26 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 379 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Nerium oleanderNerium oleanderNerium oleanderNerium oleanderNerium oleanderNerium oleanderNerium oleanderNerium oleander

Photographs: (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Aleshka Quezada, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Marco Zaccaria Di Fraia, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Nerium oleander, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Fungal Planet description sheets: 214–280
P.W. Crous, Roger G. Shivas, William Quaedvlieg, Michelle van der Bank (2014) · Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi
Potent α-amylase inhibitory activity of Indian Ayurvedic medicinal plants
PV Sudha, Smita Zinjarde, Shobha Bhargava, Ameeta Ravi Kumar (2011) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Fungal Planet description sheets: 785– 867
P.W. Crous, Janet Jennifer Luangsa-ard, Michael J. Wingfield, Angus J. Carnegie (2018) · Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi
Zeaxanthin and the Heat Dissipation of Excess Light Energy in Nerium oleander Exposed to a Combination of High Light and Water Stress
Barbara Demmig, Klaus Winter, Almuth Krüger, Franz–Christian Czygan (1988) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Xylella fastidiosa : an examination of a re‐emerging plant pathogen
Jeannette N. Rapicavoli, Brian Ingel, Barbara Blanco‐Ulate, Dario Cantù (2017) · Molecular Plant Pathology
Causal Role of Xylella fastidiosa in Oleander Leaf Scorch Disease
Alexander H. Purcell, Stuart R. Saunders, Mavis Hendson, M. E. Grebus (1999) · Phytopathology
Oleanderol, a New Pentacyclic Triterpene from the Leaves of Nerium oleander
Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Farrukh Hafeez, Sabira Begum, Bina S. Siddiqui (1988) · Journal of Natural Products

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 8 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.