Survival Where No One Thought Possible!
Nerium oleander is a unique plant.
It is considered drought resistant, however it prefers to live
along river banks in moist soil. It also needs lots of
sunlight and does not like to live in areas that have
temperatures below freezing. It can live
in many different kinds of habitats that other plants could
never survive in. Some of these places include highly metal
concentrated environments and acidic environments. Nerium
oleander has been found growing in the Río Tinto in Spain. This
area is known for having a low ph level around 2.2 and for
having high metal concentrations in its soil.
Even though most
plants could never live there, Nerium oleander has a mechanism
that blocks these metals from reaching to its outer parts. How
this mechanism works is still woefully understudied however it
was found by some scientists in Spain that the concentration of
metals in the roots of this plant was far less then the
concentration of the metals in the soil around the roots. This
most likely indicates that something in the roots is blocking
the intake of these metals. This has made scientists very
excited in that it is very possible that Nerium oleander could
be used in the phytoremediation of
mining areas.
.JPG)
Location
Nerium oleander is found most commonly in the
Mediterranean area where it originated however it can be found all
over the world. It is resistant to both
drought and pollution. It also
has ornamental flowers, which makes it a very desirable plant to
have in a garden or planted in medians of
roads. See interactions
