Coral Bean Tree
Red-hot-poker Tree
Erythrina abyssinica
Grounds of Kitale Club, Kitale, Kenya, Africa. April 2011.
Deeply fissured bark develops on this tree with age and given space the
branches extend horizontally a considerable distance. Leaves are tough and
equally three-parted and are deciduous after extended dry season. There is
often a small prickle on the underside of the leaf petiole. The flowers, occur
in crowded spikes and are bright red, often when the tree is leafless. The bean pods
curl and twist with maturity, finally splitting open to reveal coral-red beans.
Curiously, the beans remain attached to the pod well after it has split
open.
Because it is a native tree it plays host to a great variety of insects, birds and reptiles.
Fabaceae -- Bean Family
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