Plants of the Bible: Oleander

Nerium oleander, Oleander,
Hebrew: הרדוף הנחלים, Arabic: دفلة
“Listen to me, my faithful children, and blossom like a rose growing by a stream of water.”

Sirach 39:13 (Ben Sira, circa 180–175 BCE)

Scientific name:   Nerium oleander L.
Common name:   Oleander
Hebrew name:   הרדוף הנחלים
Arabic name:   دفلة
Plant Family:   Apocynaceae, Dogbane family, הרדופיים


Life form:   Phanerophyte shrub
Stems:   Up to 4m
Leaves:   Alternate, whorled, linear-lanceolate, acute, coriaceous (leather-like); evergreen
Inflorescence:   Terminal, corymbose
Flowers:   Calyx densely glandular inside; corolla 3-4cm in diameter, usually pink, cylindrical below, infundibuliform above; tube 2cm, 5 lobes 2cm, obtuse, patent; anther-appendages long, hairy, twisted
Fruits / pods:   Follicles, reddish-brown
Flowering Period:   March, April, May, June, July, August
Habitat:   Humid habitats
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Deserts and extreme deserts, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Perennating


Derivation of the botanical name:

Nerium, Oleander. Rose bay. The classical Greek name.

oleander, olea, ελαια, an olive; lorandrum, Late Latin, rhododendron; Nerium.
The Hebrew name: הרדוף, hardoph, Nerium oleander; together with Syrian: הרדוף borrowed from Greek: rododaphne ( Nerium oleander; lit.: ‘rose laurel’), from rodon (=rose) and daphne (=laurel).

  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • Pliny the Elder book XVI 79 :”The oleander, as is shown by its name, comes from the Greeks; it is an evergreen that resembles a rose-tree, and throw out shoots for the stems; it is poiseness for cattle and for goats and sheeps, but for man it serves as an antidote against the poisons of snakes.”
  • H.B.Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible: “-unequalled for the gorgeous beauty of its flowers, which shed a glowing sheet of pink over the fringe of every lake and water-course for several weeks in the early summer. This plant, the Oleander (Nerium oleander), undoubtedly indigenous, is not specially mentioned in Scripture.”

    • In folk medicine it treats dermatitis, edema, hypertension and ringworm.

    See the list of Medicinal herbs in Israel, the parts used and their medical uses to treat various diseases.

    Bible Resources:

  1. 2 Esdras 9:26
    So I went my way into the field which is called Ardath, like as he commanded me; and there I sat among the flowers, and did eat of the herbs of the field, and the meat of the same satisfied me.
  2. Book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus) 24:18
    I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho:
  3. Book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus) 39:17
    By a voice he saith: Hear me, ye divine offspring, and bud forth as the rose planted by the brooks of waters.