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[[File:Map Erythrina abyssinica.gif|thumb|distribution in Africa (wild)]][[File:Linedrawing Erythrina abyssinica.gif|thumb|1, tree habit; 2, part of leafy twig; 3, inflorescence; 4, fruit and seeds. Redrawn and adapted by Iskak Syamsudin]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica tree.jpg|thumb|tree habit]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica 162.jpg|thumb|tree habit]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica WAG9000304.jpg|thumb|flowering trees]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica 164.jpg|thumb|leafy branch]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica 163.jpg|thumb|crown]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica flower.jpg|thumb|flowering branches]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica WAG9001122.jpg|thumb|flowering branches]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica WAG9001375.jpg|thumb|inflorescences]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica fruit.jpg|thumb|infructescences]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica WAG9001121.jpg|thumb|infructescences showing seeds]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica xs M.E. Bakker.jpg|thumb|wood in transverse section]][[File:Erythrina abyssinica tls M.E. Bakker.jpg|thumb|wood in tangential section]]
<big>''[[Erythrina abyssinica]]'' Lam. ex DC.</big>
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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Erythrina abyssinica'' (PROTA)}}
:Protologue: Prodr. 2: 413 (1825).
== Synonyms ==
*''Erythrina tomentosa'' R.Br. ex A.Rich. (1847).
== Vernacular names ==
*Red-hot-poker tree, lucky bean tree, flame tree, Abyssinian coral tree (En). *Arbre de corail d’Abyssinie (Fr). *Mjafari, mlungu, mbamba ngoma, mwamba ngoma (Sw).
== Origin and geographic distribution ==
''Erythrina abyssinica'' is well known as a medicinal plant. The bark is most commonly used in traditional medicine, to treat snakebites, malaria, sexually transmittable diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhoea, amoebiasis, cough, liver inflammation, stomach-ache, colic and measles. Roasted and powdered bark is applied to burns, ulcers and swellings. The liquid from crushed bark of green stems is used to cure conjunctivitis caused by ''Chlamydia trachomatis'' (trachoma), whereas bark sap is also drunk as an anthelmintic. The bark is also applied against vomiting. Pounded flowers serve to treat dysentery. A maceration of the flower is drunk as an abortifacient, and applied externally to treat earache. Roots are taken to treat peptic ulcers, epilepsy, malaria, blennorrhagia and schistosomiasis. Leaves are taken to treat peptic ulcers; they are also used for treatment of diarrhoea. A leaf decoction serves as an emetic. Leaves are applied externally to wounds and painful joints; they are also applied to treat skin diseases in cattle. Fruit extracts are taken to treat asthma and meningitis.
== Properties ==
== Description ==
*Deciduous, small tree up to 12(–15) m tall; bole usually short, stout, up to 60 cm in diameter, usually armed with woody knobs; bark thick, corky, deeply fissured, yellowish brown, exuding a brown, gummy sap; crown rounded, with thick, spreading, somewhat twisted branches; twigs armed with strong curved prickles, initially densely hairy, glabrescent. *Leaves alternate, 3-foliolate; stipules lanceolate, caducous; petiole 6–20 cm long, often prickly, rachis 3–8 cm long, petiolules 0.5–1 cm long; leaflets broadly ovate to rhombic or almost circular, 2.5–20 cm × 2.5–21 cm, cordate to rounded or truncate at base, obtuse to notched at apex, densely hairy especially below, 3-veined from the base, veins sometimes with prickles. *Inflorescence an axillary or terminal, pyramidal, dense, erect false raceme up to 20 cm long; peduncle 2–20 cm long; bracts up to 9 mm long, soon caducous. *Flowers bisexual, papilionaceous; pedicel 2–6 mm long; calyx cylindrical to spindle-shaped, split at one side, tube 0.5–2 cm long, densely hairy, lobes elliptical to linear, 0.5–6 cm long; corolla orange-red to scarlet red, standard elliptical to obovate, 3–5 cm × 1–1.5 cm, wings 7–11 mm × 4–6 mm, keel petals free, 5–6 mm × 3–4 mm; stamens 10, fused but 1 almost free; ovary superior, narrowly cylindrical-oblong, stiped, 1-celled, style long, incurved. *Fruit a linear-oblong pod 4–16 cm × 1–2.5 cm, markedly constricted between the seeds, brown to black, usually hairy, opening by 2 valves, 1–10-seeded. *Seeds ellipsoid, 6–12 mm long, bright red with area around the hilum black.
== Other botanical information ==
''Erythrina'' comprises approximately 120 species: about 30 in continental Africa, 6 in Madagascar, 70 in tropical America and 12 in tropical Asia and Australia.
=== ''Erythrina latissima'' ===''[[Erythrina latissima]]'' E.Mey. from Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, eastern South Africa and Swaziland closely resembles ''Erythrina abyssinica'', but has larger leaflets, flowers and seeds. Its wood is undoubtedly used for similar purposes. In traditional medicine the powdered bark of ''Erythrina latissima'' is applied to wounds. The effectiveness is supported by pharmacological research, which showed the presence of antimicrobial flavonoids.
=== ''Erythrina burttii'' ===''[[Erythrina burttii]]'' Baker f. is a small tree up to 15 m tall restricted to Kenya and Tanzania. Its wood is used for stools and camel bells and as fuelwood. The leaves are used for making a tea. The seeds are used in traditional medicine to treat throat pain, and in veterinary medicine to treat cough in camels. Stem bark extracts showed in-vitro antifungal and antibacterial activities, with flavonoids as the active principles.
=== ''Erythrina melanacantha'' ===''[[Erythrina melanacantha]]'' Harms is a small to medium-sized tree up to 20 m tall, occurring in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and Socotra (Yemen). The wood is used to make headrests, stools, jugs, cups and pots. In Ethiopia the roots have been used as famine food and they are a source of potable water. ''Erythrina melanacantha'' is browsed by livestock and is occasionally planted as ornamental. Its fruits are eaten in Ethiopia.
=== ''Erythrina sacleuxii'' ===''[[Erythrina sacleuxii]]'' Hua is a small to medium-sized tree up to 25 m tall, known from Kenya and Tanzania. The wood is used for making headrests and mortars. It also serves as fuelwood and for charcoal making. The tree is planted as an amenity and roadside tree. A root decoction is used to treat gonorrhoea and leprosy. Antiplasmodial flavonoids have been isolated from the bark.
== Anatomy ==
Wood-anatomical description (IAWA hardwood codes):
*Growth rings: 2: growth ring boundaries indistinct or absent. *Vessels: 5: wood diffuse-porous; 13: simple perforation plates; 22: intervessel pits alternate; 23: shape of alternate pits polygonal; 26: intervessel pits medium (7–10 μm); 29: vestured pits; 30: vessel-ray pits with distinct borders; similar to intervessel pits in size and shape throughout the ray cell; 43: mean tangential diameter of vessel lumina <font size="1">≥</font> 200 μm; (45: vessels of two distinct diameter classes, wood not ring-porous); 46: <font size="1">≤</font> 5 vessels per square millimetre. *Tracheids and fibres: 61: fibres with simple to minutely bordered pits; 66: non-septate fibres present; 69: fibres thin- to thick-walled. *Axial parenchyma: 85: axial parenchyma bands more than three cells wide; (90: fusiform parenchyma cells); 91: two cells per parenchyma strand. *Rays: 98: larger rays commonly 4- to 10-seriate; (99: larger rays commonly > 10-seriate); 109: rays with procumbent, square and upright cells mixed throughout the ray; 110: sheath cells present; 114: <font size="1">≤</font> 4 rays per mm. *Storied structure: 120: axial parenchyma and/or vessel elements storied. *Mineral inclusions: 136: prismatic crystals present; 142: prismatic crystals in chambered axial parenchyma cells.
{{right|(E. Ebanyenle, A.A. Oteng-Amoako & P. Baas)}}
== Growth and development ==
* Coates Palgrave, O.H., 1957. Trees of Central Africa. National Publications Trust, Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. 466 pp.
* Hines, D.A. & Eckman, K., 1993. Indigenous multipurpose trees of Tanzania: Uses and economic benefits for people. [Internet] Cultural Survival Canada, Ottawa, Canada. http://www.fao.org/ documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/X5327e/ x5327e11.htm. March 2007.
* Kibungu Kembelo, A.O., 2004. Quelques plantes medicinales du Bas-Congo et leurs usages. DFID, London, United Kingdom. 197 pp.
* Maundu, P. & Tengnäs, B. (Editors), 2005. Useful trees and shrubs for Kenya. World Agroforestry Centre - East and Central Africa Regional Programme (ICRAF-ECA), Technical Handbook 35, Nairobi, Kenya. 484 pp.
* SEPASAL, 2007. Erythrina abyssinica. [Internet] Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. http://www.kew.org/ ceb/sepasal/. February 2007.
* World Agroforestry Centre, undated. Agroforestree Database. [Internet] World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya. http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ Sites/TreeDBS/ aft.asp. March 2007.
* Yenesew, A., Induli, M., Derese, S., Midiwo, J.O., Heydenreich, M., Peter, M.G., Akala, H., Wangui, J., Liyala, P. & Waters, N.C., 2004. Anti-plasmodial flavonoids from the stem bark of Erythrina abyssinica. Phytochemistry 65(22): 3029–3032.
* Bekele-Tesemma, A., Birnie, A. & Tengnäs, B., 1993. Useful trees and shrubs for Ethiopia: identification, propagation and management for agricultural and pastoral communities. Technical Handbook No 5. Regional Soil Conservation Unit/SIDA, Nairobi, Kenya. 474 pp.
* Centre d’Echange de la République du Burundi, 2002. Stratégie nationale et plan d’actions en matière de la diversité biologique. [Internet] http://bch-cbd.naturalsciences.be/ burundi/contribution/strategie/ chapii-1.htm. September 2007.
* Dharani, N., 2002. Field guide to common trees and shrubs of East Africa. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa. 320 pp.
* Gelfand, M., Mavi, S., Drummond, R.B. & Ndemera, B., 1985. The traditional medical practitioner in Zimbabwe: his principles of practice and pharmacopoeia. Mambo Press, Gweru, Zimbabwe. 411 pp.
* InsideWood, undated. [Internet] http://insidewood.lib.ncsu.edu/search/. May 2007.
* Kaitho, R.J., Umunna, N.N., Nsahlai, I.V., Tamminga, S., van Bruchem, J., Hanson, J. & van de Wouw, M., 1996. Palatability of multipurpose tree species: effect of species and length of study on intake and relative palatability by sheep. Agroforestry Systems 33(3): 249–261.
* Laurent, N. & Chamshama, S.A.O., 1987. Studies on the germination of Erythrina abyssinica and Juniperus procera. International Tree Crops Journal 4(4): 291–298.
* Lovett, J.C., Ruffo, C.K., Gereau, R.E. & Taplin, J.R.D., 2006. Field guide to the moist forest trees of Tanzania. [Internet] Centre for Ecology Law and Policy, Environment Department, University of York, York, United Kingdom. http://www.york.ac.uk/ res/celp/webpages/projects/ecology/ tree%20guide/guide.htm. September 2007.
* Maundu, P., Berger, D., Saitabau, C., Nasieku, J., Kipelian, M., Mathenge, S., Morimoto, Y. & Höft, R., 2001. Ethnobotany of the Loita Maasai. Towards community management of the forest of the Lost Child. Experiences from the Loita Ethnobotany Project. UNESCO People and Plants Working Paper 8, Paris, France. 34 pp.
== Author(s) ==
* R. Aerts , Division Forest, Nature and Landscape, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, Box 2411, BE-3001, Leuven, Belgium
== Correct citation of this article ==
Aerts, R., 2008. '''Erythrina abyssinica''' Lam. ex DC. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. In: Louppe, D., Oteng-Amoako, A.A. & Brink, M. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>. Accessed {{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}.
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[[Category:PROTA prov]][[Category:Timbers (PROTA)]]