Erythrina humeana; Dwarf Coral-tree; Kleinkoraalboom (Afrikaans); umSinsana
(Siswati & Zulu); Mokhupye (North Sotho)
Article by
Geoff Nichols
Having just written about the ultimate succulent
tree, I think it is time to deal with the “mini baobab” at the other end
of the spectrum - Dwarf Coral-tree. This is the smallest of our local species
making it a useful accent plant for a small and sunny garden. The Dwarf Coral-tree
is deciduous making it a difficult plant to find in the veld in the winter
time when only a few dry-looking twigs show above the ground. The plant produces
a large underground stem that is known as a ligno-tuber in other words a
wooden tuber. This is a mechanism employed by the plant to protect itself
from fire. These lingo-tubers can get really big especially in sandy soils
where the root can expand at will. I have seen roots that are larger than
the thigh and legs of a sumo wrestler.
This species grows usually in grassland to bushveld areas that are prone to
periodic veldfires.
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E. humeana grows from the Eastern Cape northwards along the coastal belt
up into Mozambique. In KZN it moves up into the frost belt of the Midlands
but really only survives in amongst rocks where it gets protected form both
fire and frost. The picture of the one plant is at Caversham that is prone
to severe frost. Another short underground stemmed species the Ploughbreaker
– Erythrina zeyheri takes over in the highveld areas of Southern Africa.
The leaf shape is very distinctive with its tri-foliate shape. The plants
that originate from southern and central KwaZulu-Natal have much broader leaflets
without a long tapering tip compared with the narrow bladed long-leafed tips
of plants that live in the drier warmer parts of Zululand.
The leaves and the bright red flowers produced in the summer months are
more upright in their presentation making it a very good accent plant in
a bed of other lower growing plants. I always try to plant at least four
plants in a grouping to make a good show. Plants are relatively scarce in
the horticultural industry and quickly get snapped up by gardeners.
The scarlet flowers jump out of the relatively calm colour of the surrounding
veld.
As in the other species of Coral Tree the pollination agents are birds and
again the sunbirds like the Black, Scarlet-chested, Grey, White-bellied and
even the shorter beaked Collared excel.
I've had this plant flowering from seed in its third growing season. The
hard coated seeds are red and need to have the coating nicked or scarified
if you want them to germinate quickly. My method is to soak the scarified
seeds overnight in a cup of water and sow only the seeds that have begun to
swell. Once sown the seeds germinate in a few days and the swollen underground
stem base begins to develop within the first growing season.
