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Introduction: The Nerium oleander plant contains cardenolides that may cause human poisoning when ingested. A long-standing belief holds that it is possible to be poisoned by eating hot dogs or other foods cooked on Nerium oleander branch skewers. Oleandrin levels in frankfurters cooked on fresh and dry Nerium oleander skewers were measured., Methods: Hot dogs were cooked separately on either dried or fresh oleander branch skewers using a disposable charcoal grill. The hot dogs were then frozen and transported to an analytical laboratory where oleandrin content was measured via liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy (LC/MS)., Results: The oleandrin content of hot dogs cooked on dried and fresh skewers did not exceed 343 ng and 701 ng, respectively., Conclusion: Hot dogs cooked on Nerium oleander skewers contain a negligible amount of oleandrin with respect to that sufficient to cause human poisoning. Reports of poisonings occurring in this manner are most likely the result of an urban myth.

The analysis of the airborne particulate matter-PM-incorporated to plant leaves may be informative of the air pollution in the surroundings, allowing their use as biomonitoring tools. Regarding metals, their accumulation in leaves can be the result of both atmospheric incorporation of metallic PM on aboveground plant organs and root uptake of soluble metals. In this study, the use of Nerium oleander leaves as a biomonitoring tool for metallic airborne pollution has been assessed. The metal uptake in N. oleander was assessed as follows: (a) for radicular uptake by irrigation with airborne metals as Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, As, Ce and Zn (alone and in mixture) and (b) for direct leave exposure to urban PM. Plants showed a high resistance against the toxicity of metals under both single and multiple metal exposures. Except for Zn, the low values of translocation and bioaccumulation factors confirmed the excluder behaviour of N. oleander with respect to the metals provided by the irrigation. For metal uptake from airborne pollution, young plants grown under controlled conditions were deployed during 42 days in locations of the city of Zaragoza (700,000 h, NE Spain), differing in their level of traffic density. Samples of PM2.5 particles and the leaves of N. oleander were simultaneously collected weekly. High correlations in Pb concentrations were found between leaves and PM2.5; in a lesser extent, correlations were also found for Fe, Zn and Ti. Scanning electron microscopy showed the capture of airborne pollution particles in the large and abundant substomatal chambers of N. oleander leaves. Altogether, results indicate that N. Oleander, as a metal resistant plant by metal exclusion, is a suitable candidate as a biomonitoring tool for airborne metal pollution in urban areas.

Nerium oleander L. (Oleander) leaves grown in Palermo city (Sicily, Italy) were collected from six sampling sites representing either areas of high traffic and urbanisation density or areas far away from traffic (e.g. city gardens). Concentration of Al, Ba, Cr, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mg, Mn, and Zn were determined in leaf samples during two years. Multivariate analysis classified the sampling sites in four groups based on the metal content in vegetal leaves in agreement with traffic and human activity site. Many elements studied (Al, Ba, Fe, Mn Mg) arise from the soil composition and others such as Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn as pollutant of the soil. On the other hand, about 30% of Al, Fe Cr, Cu and Pb originate from aerial deposition on leaves. Although the results presented should be handled with caution N. oleander can be considered as a means of assessing dust contamination in the urban environment.