Roger's Tree Pick: coral trees

Erythrina is a tropical genus of over 100 species of trees mostly from the Americas but also in Asia and Africa. There are even shrub forms found in southern Arizona and New Mexico, extending southward into mainland Mexico and the peninsular Baja California.

Coral trees are members of the pea family (Leguminosae) and have pea-like blossoms in various modified forms. The hundred or more Erythrina trees are native of relatively cool and dry tropical and subtropical areas in most continents.

Some coral trees are best for mild coastal areas, while others are hardy in inland sites, so you want to make sure you have the right species for the right climate zone. This past winter, many coral trees suffered from the long, hard frost of January and, although severely damaged from the cold, are re-sprouting and shall regain shape in time.

The botanical name comes from the Greek “erythros” (“red”), which refers to the color of most of the flowers. The bright red flowers, long corolla tubes and abundant nectar are all lures for the hummingbirds. Watching “hummers” dance around any flowering plant always has fascinated me.

The seeds of the coral tree are very buoyant and are good floaters in water, hence their distribution from island to island in the South Pacific. These seeds can float great distances across the oceans and wash ashore to become established in far-away lands.

Corals can range from herbaceous shrub-like forms to huge massive specimen trees. Most are deciduous and lose their leaves at various levels of cool weather. As a landscape designer, I use coral trees in many different types of settings. Some species have wonderful trunk and branch structure and are like living works of artistic organic art.

The coral trees enjoy full sunlight and excellent soil drainage and, though exotic looking, can be relatively drought-tolerant once established due to the water storing capacity of their wood tissue. Long ago, due to their buoyancy, the wood of one species of coral trees was also used in the Pacific Islands for constructing surfboards.

Some of my favorite

coral trees

• Erythrina collaroides (“Naked Coral”) – This species of coral grows fairly fast to about 25 feet in time and is very architectural in its trunk and branching structure. It can handle temperatures in the mid-20s. Use this coral as an accent tree or as a focal point out in your garden.

• Erythrina crista-galli (“Cockspur Coral”) – From South America, its mature height and width is in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 feet. This species can bloom from spring into fall and has long plumes of flower spikes up to three feet in length. It is very spectacular to see.

• Erythrina humeana (“Natal Coral Tree”) – This specimen comes from South Africa and Mozambique and is one of the best smaller corals to use in landscape. Flowering occurs in summer, when the entire tree is covered with bold spikes of 2-inch bright orange-red flowers displayed above the foliage, providing a brilliant show that can last well into the fall season. If you are a true plant connoisseur and hunter in nurseries, you might want to find a dwarf selection of this species called “Raja” with an ultimate height of 10 to 12 feet. It has smaller leaves and blooms later, from September to December, with darker red flowers. It’s a true collector’s plant to have in any botanical garden setting. If you find any around, let me know, for I have been searching for this rare species for years.

• Erythrina lysistemon (“Transvaal Coral Tree”) – From southeastern Africa, this coral tree is big, bold and showy, for it blooms from late winter and early spring with reflexed flower clusters up to eight inches long that look like bright red skyrockets at the end of bare branches. Although not common, there are also forms with pink, orange and cream-colored flowers. I found in my research that this species of coral trees has numerous uses in native medicine and culture. It is used to aid in childbirth, for treatment of open sores and earaches and to gain respect… I like that concept; maybe the comedian Rodney Dangerfield was in need of “a little respect” from this tree.

• Erythrina sykessi (“Sykes’ Coral Tree”) – Known only in cultivation, this hybrid is fast-growing and showy and may just be the more adaptable coral tree out in the garden. Reputedly originating in Australia, it is thought to be a hybrid of Erythrina lysistmeon and with Erythrina coralloids. Its flowering cycle can be from November up into March, depending on the rainfall and various microclimates it grows in.

• Erythrina latissima (“Lucky Bean Tree”) – Widely distributed in open savannas of southern Africa from Cape Province, South Africa, to Zimbabwe and Zambia, this is one of the smaller deciduous corals, maybe reaching a height of 20 feet in time. I recently had the good fortune to obtain a boxed specimen of this coral that I have wanted to add to my collection for years from Rancho Soledad nursery in Rancho Santa Fe.

The owner of Rancho Soledad is Jerry Hunter, in my opinion one of California’s most avant-garde plants-man. Jerry has been responsible for introducing so many wonderful plants from all over the globe with his contacts and now they are doing tissue culture in the propagating of some of these rare plants. The nursery has been in business for over 50 years with growing grounds also over in the Hilo region of the island of Hawaii. Thanks, Jerry, for all you have done for the plant kingdom and for introducing so many great plants that anoint many gardens throughout California and botanical collections across the country.

So, my plant friends, I hope this little exposure to the Erythrina genus has whet your whistle and brought a world of trees before you as you read of the wonderful flowering trees from around the globe that can be grown here in Southern California.

There are still so many more introductions of this genus that need to be propagated and brought into the landscape and the nursery business. Unfortunately, so many of the big-box-like nurseries buy and bring in production grown plants. This has eliminated a lot of great plants from our gardens today.

True horticulture and unique, interesting plants need to be preserved and grown so that the landscapes of today and tomorrow won’t be “cookie-cutter,” monotype gardens. So please, keep horticulture alive. Go the extra mile to seek out great plants in your botanical search with plants from yesteryear and plants of the future.

Roger Boddaert is a professional Landscape Designer and a Certified International Society Arborist who is available for consultations and fine garden designs. He can be reached at (760) 728-4297.