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Quote:

Originally Posted by estación seca (Post 805965)

Oleander smoke is toxic. People have been reported to become sick cooking food on oleander skewers.

It contains a chemical similar to digitalis, which is from foxglove - in a different plant family. Affected animals die of irregular heartbeats. The plant family Apocynaceae, to which Nerium oleander belongs, has lots of species that make nasty poisons.

Historians have wondered whether Van Gogh had digitalis toxicity. One symptom of digitalis toxicity is seeing yellow circles around bright objects, as in the painting Starry Night. It is known he was prescribed it by his doctor, and Van Gogh painted a portrait of his doctor holding a sprig of foxglove.

That is great info, the things we do to ourselves. Geese.

---------- Post added at 11:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:07 AM ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optimist (Post 805951)

I remember reading this romance novel set in ancient Egypt. The hero, a General of some sort, was being chased by a troop of his enemies, and as his people left an oasis, he threw a bunch of oleander into the water supply and killed all the men and horses.

I have no idea whether it is really as toxic as that. I tend to remember bits and pieces of silly things.

I've heard this story too.

---------- Post added at 11:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 AM ----------

Gambusia are the best in my opinion for getting rid of mosquito larvae, especially in small water systems. They are hard to kill. I have seen them, in the wild, living in small puddles, brown with muck so thick you could scoop it out from the middle of the water column. These puddles were not much bigger than a foot wide and long. I have kept them in very brackish water, in freshwater and in low oxygen water. Cold water, hot water, they survive it all.