Erythrina L.

Leguminosae, B. Mackinder, R. Pasquet, R. Polhill & B. Verdcourt. Flora Zambesiaca 3:5. 2001

Morphology General Habit

Deciduous trees, shrubs or rarely suffrutices; bark usually corky in trees, unarmed or armed with dark prickles often borne on hard woody bosses.

Morphology Leaves

Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; petiole and leaf rhachis and leaflet veins unarmed or armed with prickles; stipels present, often fleshy or glandular.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences mostly terminal, usually appearing before the new leaves on current or previous year's growth, flowers in 2–several-flowered fascicles; bracts and bracteoles present, sometimes deciduous.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx campanulate, bilabiate or spathaceous, the lobes poorly to well developed.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Corolla showy, usually bright red or orange; standard greatly exceeding the other petals, often folded longitudinally, without appendages.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens

Stamens in a sheath with the vexillary filament free or attached.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Pistil

Ovary stipitate, hairy; ovules 2–many; style long, incurved, usually glabrous, with a small capitate stigma.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Pods linear-oblong to cylindrical, often constricted between the seeds, usually dehiscent.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds ovoid, ellipsoid to ellipsoid-oblong, red or orange, sometimes bicoloured; hilum elliptic to oblong, black or white.

Timothy M. A. Utteridge and Laura V. S. Jennings (2022). Trees of New Guinea. Kew Publishing. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Distribution

A genus of c. 120 species found throughout the tropics and subtropics; two native species in New Guinea: Erythrina insularis F.M. Bailey and E. variegata L.; plus the widely cultivated Erythrina crista-galli L. Erythrina has been recorded from primary and secondary habitats including lowland rain forest, Eucalyptus savannah, coastal and swamp areas, from sea level to 2000 m.

Morphology General Habit

Shrubs or trees to 35 m tall, trunk and/or branches with strong prickles, those on the trunk with large conical bases

Morphology Leaves Stipules

Stipules small

Morphology Leaves

Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; leaflets sometimes with stellate hairs; stipels fleshy and glandular

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescence axillary or terminal, raceme-like, usually several flowered, but can be as few as 2-flowered; bracts and bracteoles mostly caducous

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers

Flowers relatively conspicuous and showy; calyx spathaceous, campanulate, or turbinate, truncate or 2-lobed; corolla often red or orange, usually longer than calyx; petals extremely unequal; standard large, rounded or oblong, often folded longitudinally, erect or spreading, subsessile or long-clawed, without appendages; wings and keel petals much shorter than standard; stamens diadelphous, vexillary stamen free, anthers uniform; ovary stipitate, ovules 2 to many; style inflexed, stigma small, terminal-Fruit stipitate, mostly linear-oblong, often curved, dehiscent along ventral suture, rarely indehiscent, mostly leathery or woody, often constricted between seeds, not septate

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds 1–14, white, grey, or brown, rarely red with dark spots, ovoid.

Recognition

Members of the genus can be recognised being large deciduous trees with 3 leaflets arranged pinnately, the conspicuous red or orange flowers in axillary or terminal inflorescences often appearing when the plant is leafless, and the dehiscent fruit usually constricted between the seeds. In addition, the plants may have strong prickles and stellate hairs, and there may be some white sap or exudate when cut but this does not readily flow from the slash.

Leguminosae, J. B. Gillett, R. M. Polhill & B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1971

Morphology General Habit

Trees or less often shrubs or small subshrubs, rarely perennial herbs, often armed with strong prickles, those on the trunk with large conical woody bases

Morphology Leaves

Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; stipules persistent or deciduous; stipels usually fleshy and glandular

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences axillary or terminal, mostly pyramidal and many-flowered, frequently appearing when the plant is quite leafless, falsely racemose, the flowers mostly in 2-several-flowered groups (pedicel-bases often not joined but approximate), scattered on the rhachis or rarely flowers axillary and solitary; bracts and bracteoles mostly deciduous

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx-tube tubular or fusiform, the limb truncate, oblique or consisting of 1–2 truncate lips or 1–5 teeth varying from small lobes to long filiform divisions, becoming campanulate or at length sheathing, often split down one side

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Corolla usually bright red or orange, generally fairly large; standard oblong or rounded, clawed or not, often folded longitudinally, without appendages; keel and wings usually much smaller than the standard (keel rarely subequal), the keel-petals free or ± joined

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens

Vexillary stamen free or partly connate with the tube; anthers uniform

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Pistil

Ovary stipitate, mostly linear or fusiform, 2–many-ovuled; style long, incurved, usually glabrous; stigma small, capitate, glabrous

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Pods mostly linear-oblong, sometimes falcate or oblong-lunate, mostly leathery or woody, frequently much constricted between the seeds, 1–14-seeded, 2-valved or opening only along upper edge or apparently indehiscent

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds ovoid, ellipsoid or ellipsoid-reniform, mostly red or orange with an elliptic or oblong, white or black hilum; rim-aril not developed.

Legumes of the World. Edited by G. Lewis, B. Schrire, B. MacKinder & M. Lock. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (2005)

Vernacular

lucky bean tree, coral tree

Habit

Trees and shrubs

Ecology

Seasonally dry tropical and subtropical lowland to upland forest (sometimes coastal, in inundated areas or riverine), woodland, wooded grassland, bushland, thicket and grassland

Distribution

c. 70 spp. in the Neotropics (c. 50 spp. in Mexico, C America and Caribbean; c. 20 spp. in S America, a number of which may comprise the basally branching elements of the genus); 38 spp. in Africa and Madagascar; c. 12 spp. in Asia to Australia

Note

A genus in the unnatural subtribe Erythrininae, in a basally branching clade sister to subtribes Glycininae and Phaseolinae; Bruneau et al. (1995) place Erythrina sister to subtribe Glycininae

Previous accounts of the Phaseoleae by Baudet (1978) and Lackey (1981) recognised 90 and 84 genera and c. 1540 and 1480 species respectively in the tribe. In an equivalent, i.e. traditionally held view of Phaseoleae, 89 genera and (1554)–1567–(1580) species are treated here (Table 9; Fig. 47). Changes between Baudet (1978) and this treatment are that eleven genera are now in synonymy or have subsequently been placed in Millettieae, two genera have been transferred from Desmodieae and eight new genera have been added. Vigna has traditionally been thought to comprise some 150–200 species, but Vigna sens. strict. may contain fewer than 100.

Recent molecular analyses of the tribe, however, have emphasised both the polyphyletic and paraphyletic nature of Phaseoleae as traditionally circumscribed (Bruneau & Doyle, 1990; Doyle & Doyle, 1993; Delgado Salinas et al., 1993; Bruneau et al., 1995; Doyle et al., 1997, 2000; Kajita et al., 2001; Goel et al., 2001; Lee & Hymowitz, 2001). This has required a radical realignment of elements of the phaseoloids (Table 9; Fig. 47), with at least two major clades being evident: Phaseoleae subtribes Diocleinae and Ophrestiinae which together with tribe Abreae are allied to the core-Millettieae (Fig. 45), and the remaining groups comprising a Phaseoleae sens. lat. clade. The rbcL phylogeny of Kajita et al. (2001) and the ITS analysis of Hu et al. (2002) are equivocal as to which clade subtribe Clitoriinae belongs. Phaseoleae sens. lat. also includes two traditionally independent tribes, the Desmodieae and Psoraleeae. Delimiting a recircumscribed Phaseoleae sens. strict is thus very problematic. A solution may be to recognise a broad tribe Phaseoleae, comprising the subtribes Kennediinae, Cajaninae, Phaseolinae and Glycininae, assorted basally branching genera, and tribes Desmodieae and Psoraleeae (both treated at subtribal level).