N20150824-0002Nerium oleander (red)Ohlone Pathway

Description:

Nerium oleanderoleander. One of the most toxic plants known. People die every year from ingesting flowers, leaves and fruits of this plant. The foregoing statement does not prevent oleander from being used in gardens and landscapes acros most of the world. Nor did it prevent it from being one of the things that Louis Armstrong misses in his great hit, "Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?" Beginning in the 1950s and continuing into the 1990s the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) planted this species along the dividers of every freeway where it stood a chance of surviving. Photographed along the Ohlone Greenway (a bike and pedestrian path) in Berkeley, CA.