Erythrina afra flowers and stems

Rounded clusters of orange-scarlet Erythrina afra flowers abound near stem-tips. These stems bearing flowers are otherwise largely bare, as new leaves also sprout at this stage in the year's proceedings, and only at the stem-tips. Little chance of flowers being missed by pollinators when exposed in this way. 

The stamens become exposed below the banner petal of each open flower in time. Then the filaments steadily lose their dull red-brown colouring, paling as they age. The anthers at their tips are small.

As the bigger stems start to age, longitudinal pale rivulets appear among dark patches in the bark from stem thickening. The occasional hooked prickle can be spotted, scattered on branches of variable thickness (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; Pooley, 1993; iNaturalist).