The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication is a book by Charles Darwin, first published in January 1868. A large proportion of the book contains detailed information on the domestication of animals and plants but it contains in Chapter XXVII a description of Darwin's theory of heredity which he called pangenesis. Darwin had been working for two years on his "big book" on Natural Selection, when on 18 June 1858 he received a parcel from Alfred Wallace, living in Borneo, it enclosed a twenty pages manuscript describing an evolutionary mechanism, similar to Darwin's own theory. Under pressure to publish his ideas, Darwin started work on an "abstract" trimmed from his Natural Selection, published in November 1859 as On the Origin of Species. In the introduction he announced that in a future publication he hoped to give "in detail all the facts, with references, on which my conclusions have been grounded". On 9 January 1860, two days after the publication of the second edition of Origin, Darwin returned to his original Natural Selection manuscript and began expanding the first two chapters on "Variation under Domestication".
He had a large collection of additional notes and by the middle of June had written drafts of an introduction and two chapters on the domestication of pigeons that would form part of The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. Darwin found writing the book tiresome and writes in his autobiography that he had been "tempted to publish on other subjects which at the time interested me more." In the following July he began work on different book, the Fertilisation of Orchids, published in May 1862. Darwin continued to gather data, his own practical experiments were confined to plants but he was able to gather information from others by correspondence and to arrange for some of his correspondents to conduct experiments on his behalf. In spite of protracted periods of illness, he made progress and in March 1865 wrote to his publisher, John Murray, saying that "Of present book I have 7 chapters ready for press & all others forward, except the last & concluding one". In the same letter he discussed illustrations for the book.
Darwin had been mulling for many years on a theory of heredity. In May 1865 he sent a manuscript to his friend Thomas Huxley outlining his theory which he called pangenesis and asking whether he should publish it. In his accompanying letter Darwin wrote "It is a rash & crude hypothesis yet it has been a considerable relief to my mind, & I can hang on it a good many groups of facts." Huxley pointed out the similarities of pangenesis to the theories of Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, the Swiss naturalist Charles Bonnet but wrote encouraging Darwin to publish: "Somebody rummaging among your papers half a century hence will find Pangenesis & say'See this wonderful anticipation of our modern Theories—and that stupid ass, prevented his publishing them'". Just before Christmas 1866 all of the manuscript except for the final chapter was sent to the publisher. At the beginning January on receiving an estimate of the size of the two volume book from the printers he wrote to his publisher: "I cannot tell you how sorry I am to hear of the enormous size of my Book."
He subsequently arranged for some of the more technical sections to be set in smaller type. At this late stage Darwin was uncertain as to whether to include a chapter on mankind. At the end of January he wrote to Murray: "I feel a full conviction that my Chapter on man will excite attention & plenty of abuse & I suppose abuse is as good as praise for selling a Book" but he apparently decided against the idea for a week in a letter to his close friend Joseph Hooker he explained "I began a chapter on Man, for which I have long collected materials, but it has grown too long, & I think I shall publish separately a small volume,'an essay on the origin of mankind'"; this "essay" would become two books: The Descent of Man, Selection in Relation to Sex and The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals. The book had been advertised as early as 1865 with the unwieldy title Domesticated Animals and Cultivated Plants, or the Principles of Variation, Reversion, Crossing and Selection under Domestication but Darwin agreed to the shorter The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication suggested by the compositors.
By May he had arranged for the book to be translated into French and German. The French edition would be translated by Jean Jacques Moulinié, the German by Julius Victor Carus who had produced the revised version of Origin in 1866 and the Russian edition by Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky, the brother of the embryologist Alexander Kovalevsky. Darwin received the first proofs on 1 March 1867. In the tedious task of making correction he was helped by his 23-year-old daughter Henrietta Emma Darwin. In the summer while she was away in Cornwall he wrote to commend her work, "All your remarks, criticisms doubts & corrections are excellent, excellent". While making corrections Darwin added new material; the proofs were finished on 15 November, but there was a further delay while William Dallas prepared an index. The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication went on sale on 30 January 1868, thirteen years after Darwin had begun his experiments on breeding and stewing the bones of pigeons, he was feeling deflated, concerned about how these large volumes would be received, writing "if I try to read a few pages I feel nauseated...
The devil take the whole book". In his autobiography he estimated; the first volume of The Variation of Animals
Streptocarpus
A popular house plant, Streptocarpus, is an Afrotropical genus of flowering plants in the family Gesneriaceae. The genus is native to Afromontane biotopes from central and southern Africa, including Madagascar and the Comoro Islands; the flowers are five-petalled, salverform tubes orchid-like in appearance, hover or arch over the plant. In the wild, species can be found growing on shaded rocky hillsides or cliffs, on the ground, in rock crevices, anywhere the seed can germinate and grow. For the home, there are now many hybrids of various forms available; the genus is defined by having a spirally twisted fruit, although this character is found in some other Old World genera of Gesneriaceae. Although referred to as "Streptocarpus", or "Streps", the common name for subgenus Streptocarpus is Cape primrose, referring to the nativity of several species to South Africa and their superficial resemblance to the genus Primula; the common name for subgenus Streptocarpella is nodding violet. There are a few odd Asian species of Streptocarpus.
Molecular systematics has shown conclusively that they are not true Streptocarpus and should be placed in another genus. DNA studies have shown that, despite not having a twisted fruit, the genus Saintpaulia evolved from within the Tanzanian Streptocarpus subgenus Streptocarpella; each grower will have their own preferences for cultivation. The details given below are a tested general guide, but Streptocarpus will do quite well on either side of these optimums; the two main things to remember when growing Streptocarpus are that they do not like soil, too wet, they do not like it too hot. Soil: Use an ordinary commercial potting mix with 1/8 to 1/4 perlite mixed in; this makes sure. Always have adequate drainage holes at the bottom of the pot. Temperature: 18 °C-25 °C, they can be taken down to 10 °C or less in winter for a rest. Light: Medium to bright indirect light is best. However, a bit of morning/late afternoon sun is more than OK. In dimmer light, they will flower - but less floriferously. Water: Water only once the soil is dry.
Some grower prefer to water only. They recover well from dehydration, this is one of the traits of the species. Make sure the pot has holes in the bottom to drain water, never leave the pots sitting in a saucer of water. Feeding: Feed with a "fruit and flower" or general fertiliser. Seasons: Generally, Streptocarpus will flower from spring to autumn. In winter, they will stop flowering and may lose some leaves, normal. However, some varieties flower in winter. Pruning of leaves & flowers: You may slice off yellowing or browned leaves at the base - these will be the older leaves dying off. If there is a healthy leaf with some blemishing, you can cut off only the blemished parts and trim the leaf to a normal shape. With regards to flowers, snip off individuals as they finish snip the whole stem off at the base once the last flower on that stem is spent. Cut flowers: Streptocarpus flowers make excellent cut flowers the long-stemmed varieties, they last well. Pests and diseases: Streptocarpus are pest and disease-free.
However, the most common afflictions are mealy bug. These are treatable with commercial insecticides or cultural pest removal methods. Leaves and abscission: It is common for older leaves to die off but in winter, they may be snipped off. New leaves will replace them; the leaves of some perennial, but unifoliate Streptocarpus, are unusual because, as winter approaches, they die back to an abscission line midway down the leaf. The end portion of the leaf will die back to this line. In most flowering plants, an abscission line forms at the base of the leaf, the whole leaf will fall off. Within the Streptocarpus subgenus Streptocarpus, there are two main forms, the plurifoliates and the unifoliates. Streptocarpus with more than one leaf are called "plurifoliates", there are two main types of these. First is the rosulate form, perennial. Rosulates are made up of a basal rosette of leaves. Flower stems sprout from the upper surfaces of the bases of these leaves; the most common Streptocarpus houseplant is of the rosulate type.
The flowers of modern rosulate hybrids are three to several centimeters in diameter. The other plurifoliate type is somewhere in between a rosulate and a unifoliate. In this group, two or three leaves grow in addition to the first leaf; the plurifoliates are perennial. Examples are Streptocarpus prolixus, Streptocarpus polyanthus ssp polyanthus; the second form is the unifoliate. In the unifoliates group, one single leaf grows continuously from the base. Many unifoliates are monocarpic, which means that they will flower once, set seed die, but they may take a few years to reach this stage. In other unifoliates, the original leaf may die, but one or two new leaves will sprout from it, the plant continues to grow; this subgenus is unique in. The leaf dies back to this point, whilst the proximal part of the leaf stays alive and healthy. In unifoliate species, the remaining healthy portion of that leaf will start to grow again from the base. Memb
Whorl (botany)
In botany, a whorl or verticil is an arrangement of sepals, leaves, stipules or branches that radiate from a single point and surround or wrap around the stem. A whorl consists of at least three elements; the morphology of most Angiosperm flowers is based on four whorls. The Calyx: a whorl of sepals at the base; the Corolla: a whorl of petals above the calyx. The Androecium: a whorl of stamens, each comprising a filament and an anther; the Gynoecium: a whorl of the female parts of a flower: the stigma and ovary. A flower lacking any of these floral structures is said to be imperfect. Not all flowers consist of whorls since the parts may instead be spirally arranged, as in Magnoliaceae. For leaves to grow in whorls is unusual except in plant species with short internodes, it does however occur in some trees such as Brabejum stellatifolium and other Proteaceae, such as some Banksia species. In examples such as those illustrated, crowded internodes within the whorls alternate with long internodes between the whorls.
Phyllotaxis
Gesneriaceae
Gesneriaceae is a family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the Old World and New World tropics and subtropics, with a small number extending to temperate areas. Many species are cultivated as ornamental plants; the family name is based on the genus Gesneria. Most species are perennial herbs or subshrubs but a few are woody shrubs or small trees; the phyllotaxy is opposite and decussate, but leaves have a spiral or alternate arrangement in some groups. As with other members of the Lamiales the flowers have a zygomorphic corolla whose petals are fused into a tube and there is no one character that separates a gesneriad from any other member of Lamiales. Gesneriads differ from related families of the Lamiales in having an unusual inflorescence structure, the "pair-flowered cyme", but some gesneriads lack this characteristic, some other Lamiales share it; the ovary can be superior, half-inferior or inferior, the fruit a dry or fleshy capsule or a berry. The seeds are always numerous.
Gesneriaceae have traditionally been separated from Scrophulariaceae by having a unilocular rather than bilocular ovary, with parietal rather than axile placentation. On the basis of both morphological and biogeographical differences the family is divided into two major subfamilies: subfamily Cyrtandroideae in the Old World and subfamily Gesnerioideae in the New World; the biggest and most widespread genus is Cyrtandra, with about 600 species distributed in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, the islands of the Pacific as far away as the Hawaiian Islands. Several molecular systematic studies have shown that Gesneriaceae are not related to any other family of the Lamiales, but more a sister-group relationship with Calceolariaceae has been suggested. Other studies have suggested that two genera placed in other families and Peltanthera, are more related to Gesneriaceae than to any other members of the Lamiales but there is as yet no consensus on whether those genera should be included in the family.
The genus Rehmannia has sometimes been included in Gesneriaceae but is now referred to the family Orobanchaceae. Several genera in the family have become popular as houseplants; the most familiar members of the family to gardeners are the African Violets in the genus Saintpaulia. Gesneriads are divided culturally into three groups on the basis of whether, how, their stems are modified into storage organs: rhizomatous, "fibrous-rooted", meaning those that lack such storage structures. Botanists who have made significant contributions to the systematics of the family are George Bentham, Robert Brown, B. L. Burtt, C. B. Clarke, Olive Mary Hilliard, Joseph Dalton Hooker, William Jackson Hooker, Karl Fritsch, Elmer Drew Merrill, Harold E. Moore, Jr. John L. Clark, Conrad Vernon Morton, Henry Nicholas Ridley, Laurence Skog, W. T. Wang, Anton Weber, Hans Wiehler. Several researchers are working on this group and the generic classification has been changing rapidly; the Gesneriad Society, Inc. is an international horticultural society devoted to the promotion and study of Gesneriaceae.
World Checklist of Gesneriaceae Genera of Gesneriaceae Gesneriad Reference Web Gesneriaceae: A Scientific Overview, by Prof. Anton Weber Gesneriaceae in Flora of China The Gesneriad Society Annotated Bibliography of the Gesneriaceae Phylogenetic relationships in the Gesnerioideae based on nrDNA ITS and cpDNA trnL-F and trnE-T spacer region sequences Evolution of Cyrtandra in the Pacific Ocean: the origin of a supertramp clade Weber, A. 2004. Gesneriaceae and Scrophulariaceae: Robert Brown and now. Telopea 10: 543-571. Gesneriaceae: All you need to know about gesneriads
Eudicots
The eudicots, Eudicotidae or eudicotyledons are a clade of flowering plants, called tricolpates or non-magnoliid dicots by previous authors. The botanical terms were introduced in 1991 by evolutionary botanist James A. Doyle and paleobotanist Carol L. Hotton to emphasize the evolutionary divergence of tricolpate dicots from earlier, less specialized, dicots; the close relationships among flowering plants with tricolpate pollen grains was seen in morphological studies of shared derived characters. These plants have a distinct trait in their pollen grains of exhibiting three colpi or grooves paralleling the polar axis. Molecular evidence confirmed the genetic basis for the evolutionary relationships among flowering plants with tricolpate pollen grains and dicotyledonous traits; the term means "true dicotyledons", as it contains the majority of plants that have been considered dicots and have characteristics of the dicots. The term "eudicots" has subsequently been adopted in botany to refer to one of the two largest clades of angiosperms, monocots being the other.
The remaining angiosperms include magnoliids and what are sometimes referred to as basal angiosperms or paleodicots, but these terms have not been or adopted, as they do not refer to a monophyletic group. The other name for the eudicots is tricolpates, a name which refers to the grooved structure of the pollen. Members of the group have tricolpate pollen; these pollens have three or more pores set in furrows called colpi. In contrast, most of the other seed plants produce monosulcate pollen, with a single pore set in a differently oriented groove called the sulcus; the name "tricolpates" is preferred by some botanists to avoid confusion with the dicots, a nonmonophyletic group. Numerous familiar plants are eudicots, including many common food plants and ornamentals; some common and familiar eudicots include members of the sunflower family such as the common dandelion, the forget-me-not and other members of its family, buttercup and macadamia. Most leafy trees of midlatitudes belong to eudicots, with notable exceptions being magnolias and tulip trees which belong to magnoliids, Ginkgo biloba, not an angiosperm.
The name "eudicots" is used in the APG system, of 1998, APG II system, of 2003, for classification of angiosperms. It is applied to a monophyletic group, which includes most of the dicots. "Tricolpate" is a synonym for the "Eudicot" monophyletic group, the "true dicotyledons". The number of pollen grain furrows or pores helps classify the flowering plants, with eudicots having three colpi, other groups having one sulcus. Pollen apertures are any modification of the wall of the pollen grain; these modifications include thinning and pores, they serve as an exit for the pollen contents and allow shrinking and swelling of the grain caused by changes in moisture content. The elongated apertures/ furrows in the pollen grain are called colpi, along with pores, are a chief criterion for identifying the pollen classes; the eudicots can be divided into two groups: the basal eudicots and the core eudicots. Basal eudicot is an informal name for a paraphyletic group; the core eudicots are a monophyletic group.
A 2010 study suggested the core eudicots can be divided into two clades, Gunnerales and a clade called "Pentapetalae", comprising all the remaining core eudicots. The Pentapetalae can be divided into three clades: Dilleniales superrosids consisting of Saxifragales and rosids superasterids consisting of Santalales, Berberidopsidales and asteridsThis division of the eudicots is shown in the following cladogram: The following is a more detailed breakdown according to APG IV, showing within each clade and orders: clade Eudicots order Ranunculales order Proteales order Trochodendrales order Buxales clade Core eudicots order Gunnerales order Dilleniales clade Superrosids order Saxifragales clade Rosids order Vitales clade Fabids order Fabales order Rosales order Fagales order Cucurbitales order Oxalidales order Malpighiales order Celastrales order Zygophyllales clade Malvids order Geraniales order Myrtales order Crossosomatales order Picramniales order Malvales order Brassicales order Huerteales order Sapindales clade Superasterids order Berberidopsidales order Santalales order Caryophyllales clade Asterids order Cornales order Ericales clade Campanulids order Aquifoliales order Asterales order Escalloniales order Bruniales order Apiales order Dipsacales order Paracryphiales clade Lamiids order Solanales order Lamiales order Vahliales order Gentianales order Boraginales order Garryales order Metteniusales order Icacinales Eudicots at the Encyclopedia of Life Eudicots, Tree of Life Web Project Dicots Plant Life Forms
Ranunculaceae
Ranunculaceae is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide. The largest genera are Ranunculus, Thalictrum and Aconitum. Ranunculaceae are herbaceous annuals or perennials, but some woody climbers or shrubs. Most members of the family have bisexual flowers which can be inconspicuous. Flowers may be solitary, but are found aggregated in cymes, panicles, or spikes; the flowers are radially symmetrical but are bilaterally symmetrical in the genera Aconitum and Delphinium. The sepals, petals and carpels are all free, the outer flower segments number four or five; the outer stamens may be modified to produce only nectar, as in Delphinium. In some genera, such as Thalictrum the sepals are colorful and appear petal-like and the petals can be inconspicuous or absent; the stems are unarmed. The leaves are variable. Most species have both basal and cauline leaves, which are compound or lobed but can be simple, they are alternate, or opposite or whorled. Many species the perennials form rhizomes that develop new roots each year.
Ficaria verna can reproduce vegetatively by means of root tubers produced in the leaf axils. Some members of the genus Thalictrum utilize anemophily. Flowers of the entomophilous genus Papaver of the Ranunculales order, produce only pollen; until it was believed that the species of the genus Anemone lack nectar. The fruits are most free, unfused achenes or follicles, but a berry in Actaea. Ranunculaceae contain protoanemonin, toxic to humans and animals. Other poisonous or toxic compounds and glycosides, are common. Takhtajan included the Ranunculaceae as the only family in the Ranunculales which he placed in a subclass, the Ranunculidae, instead of a superorder. Thorn placed the Ranunculaceae in the Berberidales, an order within the Superorder Magnolianae. Earlier Cronquist in 1981 included the Ranunculaceae along with seven other families in the Rancunculales, included in the Magnoliidae, which he regarded as a subclass. David, placed the Ranuculaceae, together with the Eupteleaceae, Menispermaceae and Papaveraceae in the Ranunculales, the only order in the superorder Ranunculanae.
This follows the work of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. The family Ranunculaceae sensu stricto is one of seven families included in the order Ranunculales within the eudicots according to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification; the family is monophyletic with Glaucidium as sister to the remaining genera. This phylogeny is illustrated in the APG Poster. Early subdivisions of the family, such as Adanson divided it based on one-seeded or many-seeded fruit. Prantl envisaged three tribes, Paeonieae and Anemoneae with Paeonia and Hydrastis forming Paeoniaae. By the twentieth century Langlet used chromosome types to create two subfamilies and Thalictroideae. In 1966 Tamura further developed Langlet's system by adding floral characteristics with six subfamilies. Paeonia was placed in its own family of Paeoniaceae. Other genera included in Ranunculaceae include Circaeaster, placed in its own family Circaeasteraceae. Tamura's complete system was structured. Adonideae Kunth Anemoneae DC. Ranunculeae DC.
Subfamily Helleboroideae Hutch. Helleboreae DC. Cimicifugeae Torrey & A. Gray Delphineae Schrödinger Nigelleae Schrödinger Subfamily Isopyroideae Tamura Coptideae Langlet ex Tamura & K. Kosuge Dichocarpeae Tamura & K. Kosuge Isopyreae Schrödinger Subfamily Thalictroideae Subfamily HydrastidoideaeThe genus Glaucidium, having been moved to its own family, has since been restored to Ranuculaceae; when subjected to molecular phylogenetic analysis only Thalictroideae is monophyletic. The position of Glaucidium and some of its unique morphological characteristics prompted Stevens to suggest that it be given subfamilial rank as the monotypic Glaucidioideae. Hydrastis has been assigned to subfamily Hydrastidoideae. Both genera are represented by a single species, Glaucidium palmatum and Hydrastis canadense respectively; the relationships between the genera suggest the existence of three major clades corresponding to Coptidoideae and Ranunculoideae. The latter is the largest with four subclades. Of these C corresponds to D to Cimicifugae and E to Ranunculoideae.
Wang and colleagues proposed a new classification with five subfamilies, further subdividing Ranunculoideae into ten tribes. The relationship between the subfamilies is shown in the cladogram; the other genera belong to Ranunculoideae. Kingdonia had been included by Tamura in Anemoneae, but is now added
Nerium
Nerium oleander is a shrub or small tree in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, toxic in all its parts. It is the only species classified in the genus Nerium, it is most known as nerium or oleander, from its superficial resemblance to the unrelated olive Olea. It is so cultivated that no precise region of origin has been identified, though southwest Asia has been suggested; the ancient city of Volubilis in Morocco may have taken its name from the Berber name alili or oualilt for the flower. Oleander is one of the most poisonous grown garden plants; the origins of the taxonomic name Nerium oleander, first assigned by Linnaeus in 1753, are disputed. The genus name Nerium is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek name for the plant Nerion, in turn derived from the Greek for water,'neros', because of the natural habitat of the oleander along rivers and streams; the word Oleander appears as far back as the first century AD, when the Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides cited it as one of the terms used by the Romans for the plant.
Merriam-Webster believes the word is a Medieval Latin corruption of Late Latin names for the plant: arodandrum or lorandrum, or more plausibly rhododendron, with the addition of Olea because of the superficial resemblance to the olive tree. Another theory posited is that Oleander is the Latinized form of a Greek compound noun:'οllyo', which means'I kill', the Greek noun for man,'aner', genitive'andros'; this is because of the Oleander's toxicity to humans. The etymological association of oleander with the bay laurel has continued into the modern day: in France the plant is known as "Laurier Rose", while the Spanish term, "Adelfa", is the descendant of the original Ancient Greek name for both the bay laurel and the oleander, which subsequently passed into Arabic usage and thence to Spain. Oleander grows to 2 -- 6 m tall, with erect stems; the leaves are in pairs or whorls of three and leathery, dark-green, narrow lanceolate, 5–21 cm long and 1–3.5 cm broad, with an entire margin filled with minute reticulate venation web typical of eudicots.
Leaves are light green and glossy when young, before maturing to a dull dark green/greenish gray. The flowers grow in clusters at the end of each branch, they are but not always, sweet-scented. The fruit is a long narrow pair of follicles 5–23 cm long, which splits open at maturity to release numerous downy seeds. Nerium oleander is either native or naturalized to a broad area from Mauritania and Portugal eastward through the Mediterranean region and the Sahara, to the Arabian peninsula, southern Asia, as far east as Yunnan in southern parts of China, it occurs around stream beds in river valleys, where it can alternatively tolerate long seasons of drought and inundation from winter rains. Nerium oleander is planted in many subtropical and tropical areas of the world. On the East Coast of the US, it grows as far north as Virginia Beach, while in California and Texas miles of oleander shrubs are planted on median strips. There are estimated to be 25 million oleanders planted along highways and roadsides throughout the State of California.
Because of its durability, oleander was planted prolifically on Galveston Island in Texas after the disastrous Hurricane of 1900. They are so prolific that Galveston is known as the'Oleander City'. Beyond the traditional Mediterranean and subtropical range of oleander, the plant can be cultivated in mild oceanic climates with the appropriate precautions, it is grown without protection in southern England and can reach great sizes in London and to a lesser extent in Paris due to the urban heat island effect. This is the case with North American cities in the Pacific Northwest like Portland and Vancouver. Plants may suffer damage or die back in such marginal climates during severe winter cold, but will rebound from the roots; some invertebrates are known to be unaffected by oleander toxins, feed on the plants. Caterpillars of the polka-dot wasp moth feed on oleanders and survive by eating only the pulp surrounding the leaf-veins, avoiding the fibers. Larvae of the common crow butterfly and oleander hawk-moth feed on oleanders, they retain or modify toxins, making them unpalatable to potential predators such as birds, but not to other invertebrates such as spiders and wasps.
The flowers require insect visits to set seed, seem to be pollinated through a deception mechanism. The showy corolla acts as a potent advertisement to attract pollinators from a distance, but the flowers are nectarless and offer no reward to their visitors, they therefore receive few visits, as typical of many rewardless flower species. Fears of honey contamination with toxic oleander nectar are therefore unsubstantiated. Oleander is a vigorous grower in warm subtropical regions, where it is extensively used as an ornamental plant in parks, along roadsides and in private gardens, it is most grown in its natural shrub form, but can be trained into a small tree with a single trunk. Hardy versions like white and pink oleander will tolerate occasional light frost down to −10 °C, though the leaves may be damaged; the toxicity of oleander renders it deer-resistant and its large size makes for a good windbreak – as
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