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| Erythrina crista-galli L. | ||||||||||||||||||
Erythrina crista-galli is a flowering tree in the family Fabaceae, native to Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay. It is widely planted as a street or garden tree in other countries, most notably in California in the (United States). It is known by several common names within South America: ceibo, seíbo and bucaré, to name a few. In English it is often known as the Cockspur coral tree.
The tree's flower is the national flower of Argentina and Uruguay. It is also the official city tree of Los Angeles, California (where it is referred to simply as "the coral tree").
Erythrina crista-galli is a small tree, the girth of its trunk measuring 50 cm. Normally it grows 5–8 meters tall, although some, such as the ceibos in the Argentine provinces of Salta, Jujuy and Tucumán, can grow up to 10 m.
The species characteristically grows wild in gallery-forest ecosystems along water courses, as well as in swamps and wetlands. In urban settings, it's often planted in parks for its bright red flowers.
The root is a taproot with nodules produced by nitrogen fixing bacteria. The bacteria lives in symbiosis with the tree, facilitating the tree's absorption of nitrogen in return for organic substances which the bacteria need. The tree's trunk is woody with irregular, spiny branches. These branches form a layer without definite form and die after flowering.
The tree's flower in the summer (from October to April in their native South America and from April to October in the northern hemisphere)is red flower, arranged in inflorescences of the raceme type, is pentameric, complete, and of bilateral symmetry. Its calyx is gamosepalous, like a little red thimble. The corolla, similar to that of Phaseolus vulgaris, is butterfly-shaped; however, the largest petal, called the standard, is arranged in the lower part. Two of the petals, called wings, are so small that they are practically hidden within the calyx. The remaining two petals partially weld together on occasion and form the flower's keel or carina; this protects its reproductive organs. The androecium consists of ten stamens, one free and nine united by their filaments (gynostemial androecium). The unicarpela gynoecium is welded between the stamens like a knife in its sheath.
The tree's fruit is monocarpic and dry, of the legume type, and no more than a few centimeters in length. The chestnut brown seeds are cylindrical in form and are arranged sparsely throughout the seedpod's interior. The seed germ contains hypogeous cotyledons; the seeds stay underground upon germination.
Synonyms
- Corallodendron crista-galli (L.) Kuntze
- Erythrina crista-galli L. Var. hasskarlii Backer
- Erythrina crista-galli L. Var. leucochlora A. Lombardo
- Erythrina fasciculata Benth.,
- Erythrina laurifolia Jacq.
- Erythrina pulcherrima Tod.,
- Erythrina speciosa Tod.,
- Micropteryx crista-galli Walp.
- Micropteryx fasciculata Walp.
- Micropteryx laurifolia Walp.
External links
- John Stephen Glasby, Dictionary of Plants Containing Secondary Metabolites, Published by CRC Press
- Images of Legume, Seeds - Flavon's Wild herb and Alpine plants
References
- This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia.
- International Legume Database & Information Service: Erythrina crista-galli
- Pink, A. (2004). Gardening for the Million. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11892.
- Template:Es icon Día de la Flor Nacional - "National Flower Day", in Argentina's Ministry of Health and Environment website (scientific description, pictures).