Erythrina lysistemon

[fastfeat]

Often confused in SoCal with the far more common (but too large for most yards) E. caffra, this tree seldom gets over 30'/10m tall, wide. It is considerably twiggier, with large black thorns. Usually blooms late winter to early spring, and often reblooms (lightly) in summer. Flower color from light orange to deep red-orange. Unlike E. caffra, E. lysistemon will take the heat of the low desert, but will not take poor drainage or heavy, wet soil.

[Justin]

Very nice, but over time I've (personally) realized that if I wanted something smaller than E. caffra, E. sykesii - which is a hybrid - works much better. Smaller thorns, less mess, no seeds. But that is a very nice specimen of E. lysistemon.

FYI, I was at the SD Zoo yesterday, and I am still appalled and irritated that I can't get an E. falcata anywhere.

[Bennz]

How many Erythrina spp. are common in SoCal? How many of them produce viable seeds? I'm not very familiar with the genus, as E. X sykesii is usually the only one commonly seen in gardens here.

How many Erythrinas are suited to cooler climates?

E. edulis is the one I really want to grow, but despite many efforts this tree just doe not perform in NZ. I've got several seedlings, which struggle. It occurs naturally in much colder areas than here, so this is not a temperature issue. Probably some soil factor missing (although it does nodulate in NZ soils).

[bahia]

I'd also be interested to hear experience with Erythrina species or hybrids that work well in cooler summer climates such as San Francisco/Berkeley. I've had experience with E. coralloides here, and while it does grow and can bloom, it seems that it would prefer either a warmer winter or warmer summers, as bloom is sporadic here. E. crista-galli is a no-brainer for our local conditions, but somehow this one doesn't grab me aesthetically. E. x bidwillii is a hybrid that is more shrubby than tree-like in our local conditions, and is one that I highly recommend for excellent flowering and elegant flowers of a pure red, and will bloom continuously all during the warmer months because it is sterile. Do E. x syksii and E. lystemon do as well in cooler summer climates such as up here in the San Francisco Bay Area? I think I have never seen either locally, only down in Santa Barbara. I haven't seen any successful E. caffra around here either, for similar reasons, I suspect. I'd love to be proven wrong, because all of them would be dramatic additions to the flowering tree category in Bay Area gardens.

[fastfeat]

In SoCal, I'd say that the species frequency would be (from high to low) would be:

1) E. caffra

2) E. coralloides

3) E. crista-galli

4) E. x bidwillii

5) E. lysistemon

6) E. x sykesii

7) everything else far behind, including E. flabelliformis, E. falcata.

Based on what I've seen, I would think that E. caffra would be the most successful in cool-summer areas, possibly including the Bay Area and New Zealand. They grow well right on the water in SoCal (Santa Monica, Malibu, Newport Beach, etc) where heat accumulation is not that different from the Bay Area. If they don't get frozen, I don't see a reason why they couldn't succeed farther north (or south, in the case of NZ) Indeed, E. caffra seems to do best in areas where Metrosideros excelsus thrives.

Interesting that E. x sykesii thrives in New Zealand. If that's the case, E. caffra and possibly E. lysistemon should do well. I have pics somewhere from HI (or maybe Oz?) that show E. x sykesii with long, straight trunks (almost millable, Ben!) totally unlike the low-branched habit typically seen here in CA.

[Geoff]

Since I have seen quite a number of Erythrinas growing in So Cal, I thought I'd share these with you (flowers only).

E acanthocarpa (my favorite, actually... best flowers, and grows like a xerophyte). This is a small shrub

E atitlaensis... a rare one and I know little about it- tree

E bidwillii (or E x bidwillii)- pretty commonly sold at nurseries.. shrub

E caffra (aka falcata)- these are huge trees (over 50' tall)

[Geoff]

more Erythinas (sorry, can only post 4 pics at a time)

E caffra peach colored (rare variety in my limited experience)

E chiapasana- a very drought tolerant smaller tree- have seen several throughout Californai

E chiraquensis... moderate tree sparsely flowered. ONly seen one of these

E collaroides (Naked Coral)- common horizontally oriented tree... nice landscape plant and pretty common

[Geoff]

More Erythrinas stil

E crista-galli... in my experience, this is one of the most commonly grown in California. Very drought tolerant and easy tree... sort of spiny and messy looking, though, but great flowers (and flowers much of the year)

E flabelliformis- a sort of rarely grown smaller tree (at least the ones I saw were small)

E herbacea Pink- I think this also comes in red, but pink is WOW. Sort of a whispy shrub

E humeana- smaller tree to large shrub... flowers very similar to lysistemon, but tree a lot smaller and flowers more sparse

[Geoff]

More Erythrinas

E lanceolata... larger tree sort of sparsely flowered. Rare

E latissima- an odd un-Erythrina-like tree.. small, lollipop-shaped tree with flat, large, stiff, fuzzy leaves

E lysistemon- large somewhat horizontal tree with tons of flowers on it... great when in full bloom

E speciosa (this form Salmon Pink) is moderately rare, super spiny, and messy looking horizontal shorter tree... not heavily flowered

[Geoff]

Sorry, latissima was lanceolata the second time around... here is latissima:

Erythrina x sykessi- large, thickly flowered tree. Nice landscaping size (30' tall). Common

[fastfeat]

Geoff--

Thanks for some great pics!

Looks like a few of those came from Fullerton Arboretum. Sadly, many of the trees there are lacking ID signage and are in need of some serious pruning. Many suffer regular frost damage there, and their siting in turf is not ideal. Curiously, E. flabelliformis (a desert species) there looks best in the turf! There's also an E. vespertilo (Batwing Coral, from Australia) there that grows well but is a shy bloomer.

Thanks for reminding me about E. humeana, a summer-fall bloomer that is of good scale for residential yards. Probably about fourth most-common in SoCal.

I used to grow E. speciosa as well; it's a large twiggy shrub that's easy to prune into a well-sculpted piece of architecture. Big, glossy, deeply-veined leaves, not much frost tolerance. E. x sykesii likely has E. speciosa as one parent, I believe.

Your pic of E. caffra is correct, but E. falcata is something different, typically single-trunked, upright, and with pendant red flower clusters. Here's a pic from Balboa Park:

"E. atitlaensis" doesn't come up in any searches (spelling off?), but I believe that this is a species I also use to have at my Bellflower yard years ago, and one is at Fullerton (unlabelled). Small-statured, didn't like cold at all, dying back w/o frost, very thorny.

And the yellowish E. caffra 'Flava' is very nice, seems a little dwarfer than the species. I distributed seed from Quail BG's tree some years ago, but I'm not sure if any are alive or ever bloomed.

Ken.

[Peter]

Great pics and information guys!

[MattyB]

awesome!

[BS Man about Palms]

I'm overwhelmed..

[Texeltropics]

did'nt know there where so many beautifull species!!

I live in the wrong place otherwise I wanted to keep all of them in my garden

[Ampli]

I like very much Erythrina species and after this pics I'm wordless!!!

[ariscott]

Whoa.... I really like that peach coloured caffra!!! And even the orange one is nice.... I have a few erythrina now... still seedlings stage now though. Although we don't get the same bloom like that here... I think I water mine too much.

Regards, Ari