Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_cascabela_thevetia
Yellow Oleander
Cascabela thevetia
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About Yellow Oleander
Yellow Oleander (Cascabela thevetia) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. A seasonally dry tropical shrub or tree native from Mexico through tropical South America and widely introduced in tropical regions. It is a latex-bearing member of Apocynaceae and all parts contain potent cardiac glycosides. Naturalized on Kauaʻi in the Bishop Museum 2025 checklist (Status=nat; K=K); the screened Smithsonian 2026 name set did not provide an independent match; public occurrence is island-level only. This evidence does not quantify current abundance or ecological effects.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Cascabela thevetia
- Common names
- Yellow Oleander · Lucky nut · Be-still tree
- Other names
- Cascabela thevetia · Yellow oleander · Lucky nut · Be-still tree · Thevetia peruviana (Pers.) K.Schum.
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, reproductive distribution, population trend, and ecological effects on Kauaʻi remain unassessed.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Bisexual funnel-shaped flowers develop into fleshy drupes with a hard, multi-seeded stone. Successful sexual reproduction requires flowering, pollination, fruit maturation, dispersal, and seedling establishment. Kauaʻi-specific flowering, fruiting, dispersers, and recruitment are unmeasured.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Small tree; Shrub
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Yellow Oleander (Cascabela thevetia) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. A seasonally dry tropical shrub or tree native from Mexico through tropical South America and widely introduced in tropical regions. It is a latex-bearing member of Apocynaceae and all parts contain potent cardiac glycosides. Naturalized on Kauaʻi in the Bishop Museum 2025 checklist (Status=nat; K=K); the screened Smithsonian 2026 name set did not provide an independent match; public occurrence is island-level only. This evidence does not quantify current abundance or ecological effects.
Sources and further reading
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:47927-2
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:47927-2/general-information
- https://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200018473
- https://www.plantsofhawaii.org/search/Cascabela%20thevetia
- https://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/publications/pdf/tr75.pdf
- https://editedimages.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/Imadaetal.2025Hawaiianvascularplants.xlsx