Common Name: Climbing Oleander

General Information

Climbing oleander is a semideciduous, climbing shrub with stems that can be up to 25 metres long and 10cm in diameter. Sometimes the plant grows more as a shrub 2 - 3 metres tall and does not climb[, ].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine. It is cultivated in Cameroon, Nigeria, and Gabon, both for local use and for export[, ]. It is widely grown in the tropics, and in greenhouses in the temperate zone, as an ornamental climbing plant, being especially valued for its rose-scented blossoms[].

Known Hazards

The plant is very toxic - the seeds, stem bark and roots have been widely used to make an arrow poison[, ].

Botanical References

Range

West tropical Africa - Sierra Leone to DR Congo.

Habitat

Primary and secondary moist forest, often at forest margins or on river banks, at elevations from sea-level up to 650 metres[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Habit	Semi-deciduous Climber
Height	20.00 m
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

Prefers a sunny position in a moist but well-drained, fertile, humus-rich soil[, ].
When growing in humid regions, the plant can flower all year round[].
Regular pruning can maintain the plant as a shrub[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

A leaf and stem decoction is used to treat gonorrhoea[, ].

A decoction of the bark is taken to treat weakness[].

An infusion of the leaves is taken to treat constipation[].
Used externally, a leaf paste is put onto sores, including guinea worm sores, and is also applied to snakebites[]. An infusion of the leaves is rubbed on the body to cure fever[].

A root decoction is said to be an aphrodisiac[].

The seeds are used as a cardiac stimulant[].

The glycoside ouabain is extracted from the seed and used in a number of pharmaceuticals in several European countries, especially in Germany, as a rapid cardiac and vascular stimulant[].

A large number of cardiac glycosides have been isolated from the plant. The seeds contain 4 - 8% of a glycoside mixture, which is the highest concentration of glycosides in the plant[].
The leaves contain the lignans pinoresinol, 8-hydroxypinoresinol and olivil[].
In medicine, the glycoside ouabain is used as a remedy for congestive heart failure, in a similar way to the digitalis glycosides[].
Preliminary tests have found a novel activity for ouabain that could prove relevant to the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer. The compound induces programmed cell death in androgen-independent human prostate cancer cell lines in vitro[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -
Cuttings of young wood.

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