Erythrina lysistemon | Common coral-tree for sale | Gewone koraalboom

The Common Coral-tree (Gewone Koraalboom) is a fast growing, medium sized, deciduous tree with a neat, spreading canopy. But beware! It has very aggressive roots. The tree is known for its large, striking, bright-red flowers, which appear in spring before leaf budding. Common coral tree has a single trunk, up-right growth form. It is slightly frost sensitive and should not be watered during winter when it is without leaves.  

A few gardening ideas:

Common Coral-tree is an easy grower, requiring very little (if any) maintenance. However it is prone to attack by stem borers, especially when young. These small worms (about 1cm) bore into fresh shoots, and once inside, chew their way down in the soft center of the twig. Infected shoots subsequently loose their vigour and usually die off. It is difficult to control this pest. Researchgate.net published an article on this problem. Fortunately the problem is not acute in large trees.  Erythrina lysistemon flowers in early spring, often in profusion. It is a very beautiful tree for a large garden, but should be planted it at least 10m away from any paving.

 

It is interesting, given the species' aggressive roots, that the Common Coral-tree does quite well in a large pot. Use this method if you have a small or even very small garden. Prune and feed the tree in late summer. It will re-sprout before winter and flowers will (hopefully) form from this new growth in spring. 

Value to honeybees: Nectar, N0-2;  Extrafloral Nectar,  EN0-1; Pollen, P0-1;  Flowering months 7-10.   (See  blog-post "The bee-value of South Africa's trees" for an explanation of codes)