''Erythrina crista-galli'', often known as the cockspur coral tree, is a flowering

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

in the family Fabaceae, native to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, southern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. It is widely planted as a street or garden tree in other countries, notably in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It is known by several common names within South America: ', ' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

), ' (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

) and the more ambiguous '' bucaré'', to name a few. Its specific epithet ''crista-galli'' means " cock's comb" in Latin. The ceibo is the

national tree This is a list of national trees, most official, but some unofficial. National trees See also * National emblem * Floral emblem * List of U.S. State and territory trees References {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of National Trees N Trees In ...

, and its flower the national flower of Argentina and

. This species characteristically grows wild in

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

ecosystems along watercourses, as well as in swamps and

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

s. In urban settings, it is often planted in parks for its bright red flowers.

Description

''Erythrina crista-galli'' is a small tree, the girth of its trunk measuring . Normally it grows tall, although some individuals, such as in the Argentine provinces of Salta,

Jujuy San Salvador de Jujuy (), commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital and largest city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. Also, it is the seat of the Doctor Manuel Belgrano Department. It lies near ...

and Tucumán, can grow up to . The

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

is a

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

with nodules produced by

nitrogen-fixing Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular nitrogen (), with a strong triple covalent bond, in the air is converted into ammonia () or related nitrogenous compounds, typically in soil or aquatic systems but also in industry. Atm ...

bacteria. The bacteria live in symbiosis with the tree, facilitating the tree's absorption of nitrogen in return for organic substances which the bacteria need. The tree's trunk is woody with irregular, spiny branches. These branches form a layer without definite form and die after flowering. Erythrina crista-galli OB UJ Krakow 2017-09-28 5744

Erythrina crista-galli OB UJ Krakow 2017-09-28 5744

Flowers and fruit

The tree flowers in the summer, from October to April in their native South America and from April to October in the northern hemisphere. It usually blooms from November to February. The red

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

, arranged in

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

s of the raceme type, is pentameric, complete, and of bilateral symmetry. Its calyx is gamosepalous, like a little red thimble. The corolla, like that of other legumes like

common bean ''Phaseolus vulgaris'', the common bean, is a herbaceous annual plant grown worldwide for its edible dry seeds or green, unripe pods. Its leaf is also occasionally used as a vegetable and the straw as fodder. Its botanical classification, alo ...

s, is butterfly-shaped; however, the largest petal, called the "standard", is arranged in the lower part. The two of the petals called "wings" are so small that they are practically hidden within the calyx. The remaining two petals partially fuse together on occasion and form the flower's keel or "carina"; this protects its reproductive organs. The androecium consists of ten stamens, one free and nine united by their filaments (gynostemial androecium). The unicarpel gynoecium is welded between the stamens like a knife in its sheath. The flowers are rich in nectar and are visited by

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s, which usually have to crawl underneath the carina and thus

pollinate Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...

the flowers. Erythrina crista-galli MHNT

The tree's fruit is a legume, a dry pod a few centimeters in length derived from a single

carpel Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) '' pistils' ...

and contains about 8-10 chestnut-brown bean-shaped seeds. The cotyledons are

hypogeal Hypogeal, hypogean, hypogeic and hypogeous (; ) are biological terms describing an organism's activity below the soil surface. In botany, a seed is described as showing hypogeal germination when the cotyledons of the germinating seed remai ...

, staying underground upon germination.

Cultivation

In cultivation in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

this plant has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

’s Award of Garden Merit.

Synonyms

Synonyms are as follows: (2005)
''Erythrina crista-galli''
Version 10.01, November 2005. Retrieved 26 January 2008. * ''Corallodendron crista-galli'' (L.) Kuntze * ''Erythrina crista-galli'' L. var. ''hasskarlii'' Backer * ''Erythrina crista-galli'' L. var. ''leucochlora'' Lombardo * ''Erythrina fasciculata'' Benth. * ''Erythrina laurifolia'' Jacq. * ''Erythrina pulcherrima'' Tod. * ''Erythrina speciosa'' Tod. (However, '' E. speciosa'' Andrews is a distinct species.) * ''Micropteryx crista-galli'' Walp. * ''Micropteryx fasciculata'' Walp. * ''Micropteryx laurifolia'' Walp.

References

:''This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia.'' * (1904): '' Gardening for the Million''. Fisher Unwin, London
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External links

Día de la Flor Nacional
(National Flower Day) - from Argentina's Ministry of Health and Environment website (scientific description, pictures). {{Taxonbar, from=Q162849 crista-galli Trees of Argentina Trees of Brazil Trees of Paraguay Trees of Uruguay Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus National symbols of Argentina National symbols of Uruguay Garden plants of South America Ornamental trees