Oleander smoke is toxic. People have been reported to become sick cooking food on oleander skewers.
It contains a chemical similar to digitalis, which is from foxglove - in a different plant family. Affected animals die of irregular heartbeats. The plant family Apocynaceae, to which Nerium oleander belongs, has lots of species that make nasty poisons.
Historians have wondered whether Van Gogh had digitalis toxicity. One symptom of digitalis toxicity is seeing yellow circles around bright objects, as in the painting Starry Night. It is known he was prescribed it by his doctor, and Van Gogh painted a portrait of his doctor holding a sprig of foxglove.
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