Be-Still

Be-still is the yellow oleander, a poisonous evergreen shrub or small tree of the dogbane family, native to Mexico and Central America and grown widely for ornament. It is related to the true oleander, from which it takes its common name. Its narrow, glossy leaves resemble a willow's and carry a waxy coat, its long funnel-shaped flowers are usually yellow but sometimes apricot or white, and its deep red-black fruit encloses a single large seed. The genus name comes from Spanish words for a little bell or a rattlesnake's rattle, perhaps in reference to a toxicity likened to rattlesnake venom, and the species name honours André de Thevet, the sixteenth-century French Franciscan who explored Brazil and Guiana. Older works file it under Thevetia peruviana, the name Cunningham uses. In frost-prone gardens it is kept in a pot and brought indoors for the winter. Its single recorded magical use is for luck: Cunningham writes that Sri Lankans call the seeds lucky beans and carry them as charms to draw good fortune.