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| inflorescence a raceme | one leaf--Erythrina herbacea has very distinctive leaves - hastately 3-lobed to widely deltoid |
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| leaves--what kind of compound leaves are present here? The youngest leaves are at the center of the picture. | stem showing pedicels and swollen pedicel bases--what kind of leaf arrangement is present here? |
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| pedicel, showing a prickle--the stems and pedicels of Erythrina can be covered with prickles! How can you tell that these are prickles, and not spines or thorns? | fruits--the red seeds stay attached to the pericarp for a little while before they fall off, giving the legumes of this species a very distinctive look! These red seeds are the reason this genus is called Erythrina (the root of this name means "red"), and is also the reason that the common name of this species is "coral bean". |
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| another photo of the dehiscing fruits | stem, showing how the leaves tend to point upward. Also, notice how long the petioles are. |
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| with this flower it is difficult to tell that the plant is in the Faboideae (or Papilionoideae) subfamily of Fabaceae | scarlet corolla; can you see the male and female parts? |
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| habit as a tree | close-up of whorled flower arrangement in the inflorescence |
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| habit--Erythrina is a large shrub or a small tree | habit in winter |
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