Erythrina humeana flowers

The dwarf coral tree (SA Tree List No. 243.1), as Erythrina humeana is commonly known, presents a good solution for the gardener with little space, as it is only a small tree and doubles up in usefuleness as a significant flowering plant.

E. humeana occasionally becomes 4 m tall in its habitat, more often only 1,5 m. This is not called a dwarf coral tree for nothing! Andrew Hankey describes it as of window height, enabling the owner of the garden where it grows to observe the sunbirds feeding on nectar from the comfort of home. It withstands drought and a little frost.

The specimen in picture shows a notable feature of the dwarf coral tree. The red of the flowers, albeit a little paler, sometimes orange, appears also on the calyx and not only on the corolla. Many flowers, also some erythrinas, reserve the spectacular colours for the corolla only.

The species distribution lies along the east coast of South Africa and in the Lowveld in Mpumalanga and Limpopo. The habitat comprises coastal grassland and bushveld, the plants often seen on rocky outcrops. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (www.plantzafrica.com; www.redlist.sanbi.org).