What are the characteristics and symbolic meanings of the yellow oleander?

Alternative names of the yellow oleander

The yellow oleander, an upright shrub plant, is also called yellow lanchan.

Origin of the yellow oleander

This variety is native to Brazil and is now widely cultivated in tropical regions. It is cultivated in gardens in Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan, China and Beijing (in greenhouses).

Morphological characteristics of the yellow oleander

The yellow oleander is about 1-2 m tall, has milky sap, and its branches are grayish-white.

The leaves are whorled in groups of 3-5, entire, mostly elliptical or obovate-oblong, about 6-12 cm long and about 2-4 cm wide. The leaf tip is acuminate or acute, the base is cuneate, the upper surface of the leaf is dark green and the underside is light green. Except for the hairs on the midvein and lateral veins on the underside, the rest is hairless.

The veins are flat on the upper surface and raised on the underside, with 7-12 lateral veins on each side, anastomosing before reaching the margin; the petiole is very short, with glands at the base and in the axils.

The cyme of the yellow oleander is terminal, the pedicel is hairy, the flowers are yellow, 4-6 cm long, with an opening diameter of about 4 cm, and the bracts are lanceolate, borne at the base of the pedicel.

The corolla is funnel-shaped, with red-brown stripes inside. The lower part of the corolla is cylindrical, no more than 2 cm long and 2-4 mm in diameter, swollen at the base; the throat expands upward into the limb, about 3 cm long and about 1.5 cm in diameter. The top of the limb is 5-lobed, the corolla lobes overlap to the left, the lobes are ovate or round, obtuse at the apex, 1.6-2.0 cm long and about 1.7 cm wide.

The yellow oleander has 5 stamens, growing at the throat of the corolla tube; the filaments are relatively short, with hairs at the base; the anthers are ovate, relatively obtuse at the apex; the disk is fleshy and entire; the ovary is entire, 1-loculed; the style is filiform, the stigma is obtuse at the apex and ring-shaped at the base.

The capsule of the yellow oleander is spherical, with long spines, about 3 cm in diameter; the seeds are flat, with a membranous margin, about 2 cm long and about 1.5 cm wide. The flowering period is from May to August, and the fruiting period is from October to December.