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Does anyone recognise this plant please?


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[IMG]http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l360/janlawther/plant.jpg[/IMG]

A friend in southern Spain gave me one little seedling plus a cutting.  Both have taken really easily.  Does anyone know what type of bush this is and whether it is poisonous please?    It has green seed pods, about the size of a marble. very shiny.  The flowers are quite profuse, a lightish purple with a yellow centre.  There are no distinct petals.  Most of the leaves have three points on them although some are single.

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Just in case a real expert takes a while to answer, my first hunch is that it is an oleander - in which case, it is extremely poisonous, all parts of the plant. Pretty, scented flowers, but very toxic.

Edit: Just re-read your post, and now I think it probably - DEFINITELY, if 3-pointed leaves, IS NOT an oleander. Sorry![:'(]

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Thanks for the suggestion but I think you're right, it isn't an oleander.  I've taken a couple more pictures, one of the plant now in the garden to show the flower and another of the one still in a pot to show the seed pods.  The flower is just under 4cms across.

[IMG]http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l360/janlawther/plant2pb.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l360/janlawther/plant1pb.jpg[/IMG]

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I am glad I stumbled on this topic - I had no idea that Oleander was poisonous.  I recently bought 3 "Laurier Rose" from Gamm Vert as I had been told they flower well.  Since reading your posting, 5-element, I looked it up on Internet and found that this plant is extremely toxic for horses. [:(]

Luckily I have planted them near our gite.  Would it be over-reaction to remove them - they are still in large tubs as I haven't had time to plant them ?  We don't have children here  and I don't imagine our guests would put the leaves in their cooking ! ! !

 

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We had several oleander bushes in our garden in Spain.  They were lovely, if a little hard to keep under control.  They are just about everywhere in southern Spain and although they are poisonous I think they are perfectly safe as long as you don't actively EAT them.  I used to spend hours hacking and pruning ours, carrying the cuttings down the road to the tip, etc with no problems. We occasionally let our house so I always pointed them out to guests but there were never problems with them.
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I have an oleander in a pot here that I brought over from UK.   Yes I knew it was poisonous as are Angel's Trumpets too, but they are part of the olive family despite this.  Poisonous or not, it has not deterred my geese from chomping off all the lower leaves!
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I'm told this is a poroporo or kangaroo apple.  It's native to New Zealand and Australia and is from the Nightshade family.  The leaves and unripe seed pods are poisonous but the ripe pods can be eaten.  I don't think I'll try though!
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