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Erythrina americana
Also called Naked Coral Tree, Nuted Coral Tree
Erythrina americana is a spiny, deciduous tree from Mexico, grown for its bright red flowers that attract hummingbirds and are eaten in parts of southern Mexico. It is most often grown outdoors in warm, seasonally dry climates and drops its leaves in the dry season.
Erythrina americana (coral tree, colorines, colorín, or pemoches), is a flowering plant of the genus Erythrina which is native to Mexico. Colorín (plural colorines) is the name of a type of tree, Erythrina americana also called Tzompāmitl. The word colorín means color chillón—a “gaudy” or “loud” color (Williams 1959).
Colorines plant, also called cuchillitos (little knives), machetitos (little machetes), zompantle, or coral, is a nice flower, red in color, and every individual flower resembles a little machete. The flower is edible and is boiled (only the red part of the flower) and cooked with scrambled eggs or tuna in many parts of south Mexico.
The flower is edible, traditionally fried or added to eggs for omelets, or added to soups and salads. The leaves can also be used in salads, as long as they are tender. This tree is very popular with children, who use the flowers as little knives to stab each other. The tree is also used to make traditional crafts in many Mexican states, especially traditional dance masks. It can also be turned into and used as fence posts in many parts of Veracruz Mexico. It is a hardy tree, with some varieties even tolerating frost.
Erythrina · Thorny Coraltree · Erythrina ankaranensis · Erythrina atitlanensis · Machete · Erythrina burana · Erythrina burttii · Erythrina chiapasana · Coral erythrina · Flame coral tree · Cockspur Coral Tree · Basul
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Erythrina americana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
