578 XLVii. LEGUMiNOS^. [Erythrina. 



18. ERYTHRINA, Linn. 



Trees, often big, thorny. Flowers large, red, in dense racemes, 

 usually produced before the leaves. Leaves trifoliate, large. 

 Calyx oblique, spathaceous, splitting to base or campanulate 

 2-lipped. Petals very unequal, slender, much longer than wings 

 and keel. Upper stamen free nearly to base or connate with the 

 others half-way; anthers uniform. Ovary stalked, many-ovuled; 

 style incurved, beardless. Pod linear, turgid, torulose. Seed hard, 

 brown or black. Species 25 to 30, tropics of both worlds. 



Those occurring inland and south of Kedah are probably 

 remains of cultivation. E. indica, E. ovalifolia, E. stricta and 

 E. lithosperma have all been planted for ornament, shade for cocoa, 

 and for stakes for pepper, and the plants of these species seen in 

 the south of the peninsula have probably been planted for some 

 such reason. They are popularly known as " Dadap " by Malays. 



Pods turgid and seed-bearing throughout their 

 length ; hilum large, oval. 

 Calyx spathaceous, not 2-lipped. 



Calyx oblique 5-toothed ; flowers bright red ; 



standard broad . . . . . (i) E. indica 



Calyx cup-shaped, entire ; flowers black red . (2) E. atrosanguinea 

 Calyx oblique retuse ; standard narrow . . (3) E. suberosa 



Calyx 2-lipped. - 

 ' '""Pod 6-seeded . . . . . . (4) E. Ovalifolia 



Pod I -seeded; base of pod flat; one seed at tip 



(rarely 2 to 3) (5) E. lithosperma ^ , 



Pod turgid, beaked, i seed in middle . . • (6) E. rostrata ^tv^/U 



■ J V'- ]\\t^^ 



i^ (i) E. indica Lam. Encyc. Meth. ii. 291 ; Baker, in Hook. fil. 

 F.B.I, ii. 188; Prain, I.e. 70. 



A big tree. Bark grey prickly, 60 ft. tall. Leaves 8 to 12 in. 

 long; petioles 4 to 6 in. long, pubescent when young as 

 are the leaves; leaflets, terminal sub-reniform, lateral oblique 

 triangular, tip cuspidate, base truncate 4 to 6 in. long and 

 about as broad, with 2 ovate glands (stipels). Stipules lanceo- 

 late. Racemes dense 4 to 6 in. long on woody peduncles 3 to 4 in. 

 long; pedicels '25 in. long soon glabrescent. Calyx i to 1*25 in. 

 long, oblique splitting down the back, teeth 5, 2 or 3 subulate 

 •2 in. long, the others shorter. Corolla scarlet 2 to 2*5 in. long; 

 standard i in. across. Pod 6 to 12 in. long; stalk 75 to i in. long, 

 black torulose 6- to 8-seeded. Seed '6 in. long, brown. Hab. 

 Seashores generally, often planted in towns. Perak (Scortechini) . 

 Kedah, Alor Sta; Gunong Geriang, apparently wild here 

 (Ridley). Distrib. India, Malaya, Polynesia. 



(2) E. atrosanguinea Ridl. Journ. Roy. As. Soc. S. Br. 59, p. 93. 



A low tree. Branches thorny. Leaves (deciduous in flowering 

 season) 6 in. long; leaflets ovate-obtuse, base round, coriaceous, 

 glabrous ; rachis and midrib on back armed, 3 in. long, 2 in. across. 



