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Mountain immortelle

Erythrina poeppigiana

Also called Coraltree, Immortelle Tree, Coral Tree

Mountain immortelle
Photo: Alejandro Bayer Tamayo from Armenia, Colombia, CC BY-SA 2.0

A fast-growing tropical tree grown for its orange flowers, often used as a shade tree in coffee and cacao plantations, as a street tree, and as a nitrogen-fixing fodder plant. It needs warm conditions and a clear dry season to flower well.

Family
Fabaceae (Pea & bean family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly when young, then allow the top of the soil to dry between waterings; tolerates seasonal drought once established.
Soil
Well-drained loam or sandy loam; tolerates a range of soil types.
Temperature
20–30 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Easy
Safety
Toxic: Seeds and other parts contain erythrina alkaloids that can cause nausea and vomiting if eaten.
Native range
Panama to NW. Argentina
Climate
seasonally dry tropical

About

Erythrina poeppigiana, called the mountain immortelle, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Erythrina, native to northern and western South America, and introduced to various places in Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, India and tropical Asia. Its striking display of orange flowers has led to its use as an ornamental street tree. It is the emblematic state tree of Mérida, Venezuela. Widely cultivated, it is a nitrogen fixer and a source of fodder.

Other Erythrina plants

Machete · Coral erythrina · Flame coral tree · Cockspur Coral Tree · Basul · Brazilian Coral Tree · Bucayo · Dwarf erythrina · Broad Leaved Coral Tree · Sacred Coral-tree · Erythrina resupinata · Wiliwili

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Erythrina poeppigiana 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.

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