Oleanders?

I have always heard oleanders are poisonous..including the limbs and sap....however a neighbor was raised in Texas and said they made whistles out of the oleander limbs all the time and that only the leaves are poisonous?? I would like to know, we have a lot of oleanders and they have nice straight limbs...don't know if they will dry tough enough for a walkingstick but would like to try if not poisonous and apparently they are not or my neighbor and his friends would have found out years ago! : Anyone an oleander specialist?

Everything I can find saya that oleander is poisonous if ingested. The leaves and sap are the most dangerous. One leaf has enough toxins to kill a child or small adult. Perhaps your neighbor was either wrong about the wood used for the whistles or simply very lucky.

http://www.oleander.org/toxic.html

http://www.intox.org/pagesource/into...IMs/pim366.htm

http://www.drkoop.com/ency/article/002884.htm

Yes thats what I am finding out as well...will have to tell him, that could be dangerous info to pass on to a young kid!! Also what I have found is that most of the whistles in the articles I read are either poplar or willow...probably anything but oleander lol

[Kenny_S]

I agree on the willow being used for whistles and other woods for flutes. What I can find on the oleander wood is poisonous and wouldn't think putting it to your lips would be healthy.