Roman soldiers, particularly those who operated at the edges of the Roman Empire, did not depend on supply lines. They foraged for their own food and repaired or made their own weapons and equipment. This included even the smallest and least dangerous of items, such as canteens.

A Roman legion, busily conquering the Middle East in the first century B.C.E., bivouacked in the arid countryside. Some of the soldiers decided to  replace their worn-out wooden canteens during the respite. Large trees were scarce in the dry climate, but they found a small native shrub growing nearby whose trunk seemed to have the working characteristics needed to make the replacements. The soldiers fashioned  canteens from this wood, filled them with water, and died within a few days.

The shrub was Oleander (Nerium oleander). It contained a water-soluble extractive similar to digitalis, a chemical used to treat cardiac arrhythmia and other heart ailments. When ingested by healthy invading soldiers, it causes irregular heartbeat, drowsiness, seizures, coma, and death.

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