3,452
edits
Changes
From Gardenology.org - Plant Encyclopedia and Gardening Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to searchno edit summary
{{Inc|
Erythrina (from Greek for red). Leguminosae. Coral-tree. Herbs, shrubs or trees, with large and showy papilionaceous flowers, for planting out and for greenhouse bloom; and open-ground subjects in Florida and California.
Erect, or the herbs more or less reclining, usually spiny: Lvs. alternate, pinnately 3-foliolate, with small glanduliform stipules: fls. mostly red and in dense racemes; calyx 2-lipped or oblique; standard free or very nearly so, erect or spreading; tenth stamen free, or united only half its length: fr. a slender, more or less twisted pod; seeds mostly ovoid.—Known species about 50, in tropical and warm temperate regions around the world.
Erythrinas are much prized garden plants. Some of them, particularly the herbaceous kinds, are frequently planted out in the summer. In the house they demand an intermediate temperature. Give rich soil and frequent waterings. In the woody species, aim to have well-ripened wood for flowering, for the bloom is produced on wood of the preceding year. The herbaceous species are propagated by division of the rootstock; also by cuttings from shoots springing from the old roots. Woody species are propagated by cuttings of growing wood. All species are propagated by seeds, whenever these are obtainable. Many species have been more or less grown or tried within the limits of the United States; some of them fail to bloom in southern California, probably because of insufficient summer heat. The forms more or less in cultivation are likely to be imperfectly or doubtfully determined botanically. Some of the erythrinas arc used as shade for coffee and cacao plantations.
Herbaceous species (or treated as such). These die down at the end of the season, and the roots may be stored after the manner of dahlias. It is best to start the roots before planting them out, particularly in the N. In their native countries, these species are more or less woody.
E. arborea. Small (E. herbacea var. arborea, Chapm.). Shrub or small tree, to 20 ft., armed: Lvs. with wire-like petiole and rachis; lfts. deltoid or hastately 3-lobed: fls. scarlet in racemes 4-8 in. long: pod 3-5 in. long, constricted between the seeds. Fla. Likely to be planted.—E. bogotensis appears in a European trade list of greenhouse plants.—E. constantiana, Mich. Tree, soft, the trunk thick and spiny: fls. large, scarlet, in racemes. Eu.—E. insignis. Tod. Tree, sparingly prickly: lfts. ovate, tomentose when young: fls. scarlet, in short and dense racemes. Origin unknown. Gt. 28:988. —E. vespertilio, Benth. Shrub, for a warm greenhouse: glabrous, branches prickly: Lvs. not prickly; lfts. broad-cuneate at base, 3 or 4 in. broad, usually 3-lobed, and the middle lobe of various shape and sometimes absent: fls. showy (red?) and many in racemes: standard ovate, recurved at top, nearly 1½ in. long: wings small, oblong: pod long, torulose; seeds few, large and red. Austral. G.Z., 30, p. I. —E. viarum, Tod. Tree, prickly: lfts. rhombic-ovate, tomentose when young, terminal one long-stalked: fls. scarlet, in many-fid. short racemes, the standard obovate. Origin unknown. L. H. B.
}}
{{ToLCleanup}}
{{ToLCleanup}}
