Coral bean

Coral Bean

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Coral bean

The widespread Purple Coral Tree is also called "coral bean" in some places.

The Coral bean (Erythrina herbacea) also known as the Cherokee bean, Red cardinal or Cardinal spear, is a flowering tree found throughout the southeastern United States
Southeastern United States

The US Southeast is the eastern portion of the Southern United States, but the Census Bureau does not provide a standard definition of a "Southeast" region of the United States, and organizations that need to subdivide the US are free to define a "Southeast" region to fit their needs....
and northeastern Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
; it has also been reported from parts of Central America
Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
and, as an introduced species
Introduced species

A species is defined as introduced in a certain geographical area, if that area is outside the species' indigenous distributional range, and the species has arrived there by human activity....
, from Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
.

The coral bean grows as a low shrub
Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
or small tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
, reaching around 5 meters in height in areas that do not kill it back by freezing.

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Encyclopedia

The widespread Purple Coral Tree is also called "coral bean" in some places.

The Coral bean (Erythrina herbacea) also known as the Cherokee bean, Red cardinal or Cardinal spear, is a flowering tree found throughout the southeastern United States
Southeastern United States

The US Southeast is the eastern portion of the Southern United States, but the Census Bureau does not provide a standard definition of a "Southeast" region of the United States, and organizations that need to subdivide the US are free to define a "Southeast" region to fit their needs....
and northeastern Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
; it has also been reported from parts of Central America
Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
and, as an introduced species
Introduced species

A species is defined as introduced in a certain geographical area, if that area is outside the species' indigenous distributional range, and the species has arrived there by human activity....
, from Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
.

The coral bean grows as a low shrub
Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
or small tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
, reaching around 5 meters in height in areas that do not kill it back by freezing. Its leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are yellowish-green, around 20 cm long and are divided into 8 cm leaflets, shaped like arrowheads. Its bark is smooth and yellowish. The flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are bright red, and grow in long clusters, each flower being around 5 cm long; the tree blooms from February to June. They are followed by pods containing bright red seeds (from which the tree gets its name), which are poisonous enough to have been used in the past as a rat
Rat

Rats are various medium sized, long-tailed rodents of the Family Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus....
poison.

The coral bean grows in pinelands, hammocks
Hammock (ecology)

Hammocks are dense stands of hardwood trees that grow on natural rises of only a few inches higher than surrounding marshland that is otherwise too wet to support them....
, and disturbed areas
Ruderal species

A ruderal species is a plant species that is first to colonise disturbed lands. The disturbance may be natural , or due to human influence - constructional , or agricultural ....
. Within its natural range it can readily be grown in gardens. Although its use in gardens is not particularly common, it is popular among those who do grow it as a source of early season color, for its hardiness, and because it attracts hummingbird
Hummingbird

Hummingbirds are birds in the family Trochilidae, and are endemic to the Americas. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 15?200 times per second ....
s.

Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
people had many medicinal uses for this plant, varying between nations and localities. Creek women used an infusion of the root for bowel pain in women; the Choctaw
Choctaw

The Choctaw are a Native Americans in the United States people originally from the Southeastern United States . They are of the Muskogean languages group....
used a decoction
Decoction

A decoction is a method of solvent extraction of herbal or plant material, which includes, but is not limited to:*Stems*Roots*Barkand*Rhizomes....
of the leaves as a general tonic; the Seminole
Seminole

The Seminole are a Native Americans in the United States people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation was formed in the 18th century and was composed of Native Americans from Georgia , Mississippi, and Alabama, most significantly the Creek people, as well as African Americans who escap...
used an extract of the roots for digestive problems, and extracts of the seeds, or of the inner bark, as an external rub for rheumatic
Rheumatism

Rheumatism or Rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the heart, bones, joints, kidney, skin and lung. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology....
disorders.

Various other systematic names have been used for this plant in the past, including Erythrina arborea, Erythrina hederifolia, Erythrina humilis, Erythrina rubicunda, Corallodendron herbaceum and Xyphanthus hederifolius.