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''Erythrina afra'', the coast
''Erythrina afra'' is a medium to large deciduous tree. It grows in coastal bushes and riverine forests along the southeastern coast of
The compound leaves are made up of three leaflets. Each leaflet is broadly ovate to elliptical. The leaflets do not have prickles and are hairless.
The flowers are made up of a main petal and four small petals. The main petal curves back to expose the stamens. The flower colour is warm red to scarlet. This is one of the main differences between ''Erythrina caffra'' and ''
The bark on the plant or tree is relatively smooth with intermittent thorns, and the thorns tend to be sharper on younger branches.
Image:Erythrina caffra, KZN NBT, b.jpg, Close-up view, showing leaf arrangement, shape and size
Image:Erythrina caffra 01 ies.jpg, View of trunk showing prickles
Image:Erythrina Caffra flower.JPG, Inflorescence
Image:1TIE.png,
coral tree
''Erythrina'' is a genus of plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 130 species, which are distributed in Tropics, tropical and Subtropics, subtropical regions worldwide. They are trees, with the larger species growing up to in h ...
or African coral tree (historically also the kaffir tree), is a tree native to southeastern Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
, which is often cultivated and has introduced populations in California and India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. All the 17 species of coral tree in the genus ''Erythrina'' are collectively considered the official tree of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, California in the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
Description
''Erythrina afra'' is a medium to large deciduous tree. It grows in coastal bushes and riverine forests along the southeastern coast of South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
and up into Zululand.
Leaves
The compound leaves are made up of three leaflets. Each leaflet is broadly ovate to elliptical. The leaflets do not have prickles and are hairless.
Flowers
The flowers are made up of a main petal and four small petals. The main petal curves back to expose the stamens. The flower colour is warm red to scarlet. This is one of the main differences between ''Erythrina caffra'' and ''Erythrina lysistemon
''Erythrina lysistemon'' is a species of deciduous tree in the pea family, ''Fabaceae''. It is native to South Africa. Common names include common coral-tree, lucky bean tree, umsintsi ( Xhosa), muvhale (Venda), mophete (Tswana), koraalboom or ka ...
''. The flowers form stalked axillary racemes up to 100mm long.
Trunk
The bark on the plant or tree is relatively smooth with intermittent thorns, and the thorns tend to be sharper on younger branches.
Taxonomy
The original etymology of the species name ''caffra'' is related to kaffir, an ethnic slur used towards black people in Africa. At the July 2024International Botanical Congress
International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of Botany, botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the locatio ...
, a vote was held with the result that "''caffra''" related names will be amended to ''afra'' related ones, with this being implemented at the end of July 2024.
Gallery
Trypsin inhibitor
A trypsin inhibitor (TI) is a protein and a type of serine protease inhibitor ( serpin) that reduces the biological activity of trypsin by controlling the activation and catalytic reactions of proteins. Trypsin is an enzyme involved in the breakdow ...
isolated from the seeds of Erythrina caffra
References
External links
* caffra {{Phaseoleae-stub