Erythrina herbacea. 11
R o ot tuberous, large, contorted, branched below. Stem of a purplish
colour, from two to three feet high, mostly herbaceous, but occasionally
persistent, invested with a few prickles. Leaves ternate ;
petioles aculeate. Folioles slightly coriaceous, smooth, hastate-rhomboid,
sub-acute, very much dilated laterally, appearing three-lobed ;
the terminal foliole larger than the lateral, and the latter often differing
in size and shape. Flowers borne in long terminal spikes, supported
by tall stalks. Pedicels for the most part ternate, sometimes
solitary and irregularly scattered; always one-flowered. Calix entire
and truncated, without honey-glands at the base; suddenly attenuated
and corrugated with longitudinal furrows at its juncture
with the pedicel; of a duller red hue than the conspicuous banner
of the flower. Corolla with a long sabre-shaped vexillum of a deep
carmine-red colour. Wings and keel inconspicuous, very short,
membranaceous, and of a dingy purple hue. Stamens distinctly ten,
coalescing by the filaments into a solid cylinder towards the base,
except the tenth, which is separated. Germen pedicellated; seeds
bright scarlet, with a black eye. A native of the open, bushy forests
of Carolina, Georgia.and Florida, and according to Mr. Nuttall, “ not
far from the sea-coast, rather rare.”
This elegant perennial is the only herbaceous American species
of the gaudy genus Erythrina, yet known. They are all characterised
by red flowers, and hence the generic term, from tp«tp«s, red.
The English appellation of Coral tree likewise common to all the
species, is expressive of the same constancy in this character.