Erythrina poeppigiana (Walp.) O.F.Cook
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Authority
Britton, Nathaniel L. Flora Borinqueña.
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Family
Fabaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - A native of Peru, this large tree was introduced into Porto Rico, for shading plantations of coffee, many years ago; it is spontaneous from its seed, and has become widely, locally established in moist and wet districts, and frequently planted along roads. It has been similarly established in Jamaica, Cuba, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Trinidad. When in bloom, in the late winter, it is one of the most elegantly conspicuous of trees, profusely covered with clusters of orange flowers, which unfold with or before the leaves of the season, and, in falling off, often carpet the ground. In 1881 the Spanish botanist Bello recorded it as Erythrina umbrosa, but that is a different species. Chancellor Chardon has contributed the following note: "No record of the introduction of this species is available. It was once extensively used as a coffee shade tree but its popularity among the growers is decreasing due to its brittleness and susceptibility to strong winds. It also sheds its leaves, prior to blooming, in January and February, thus exposing the coffee to the sun rays, during the dry season. For beauty it is superb, but for coffee shade purposes it is poor." For an account of the genus Erythrina we refer to our description of Erythrina corallodendron. Erythrina Poeppigiana (named in honor of Eduard Friedrich Poeppig, German traveller and naturalist) reaches a height of from 15 to 25 meters, with a trunk nearly a meter in maximum diameter, the bark nearly smooth, but the trunk and branches are armed with stout prickles, which sometimes fall away. The 3 leaflets of the stalked, smooth and unarmed leaves are broad, rhombic or sometimes wider than long, pointed, rather thin, from 7 to 16 centimeters long; the flowers are usually numerous, short-stalked, in rather dense clusters from 7 to 20 centimeters long; the top-shaped, finely hairy calyx is from 5 to 7 millimeters long; the standard is oval to elliptic, 3 or 4 centimeters long; the wing-petals are about 1 centimeter long; the keel-petals are united except at their tips, and somewhat shorter than the standard, and shorter than the stamens and the style. The pod is from about 7 to 13 centimeters long, 9 to 15 millimeters wide, compressed, narrowed at both ends, slender-beaked and long-stalked. Our illustration was first published in "Addisonia", plate 331, June, 1925.
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Discussion
Bucare Bois immortelle Pea Family Micropteryx Poeppigiana Walpers, Linnaea 23: 740. 1850. Erythrina micropteryx Poeppig; Urban, Symbolae Antillanae 1: 327. 1899. Erythrina Poeppigiana O.F.Cook, Bulletin of the United States Department of Agriculture 25; 27. 1901.