Indian coral tree — 1 of 4 · Photo: “Kinmen Erythrina variegata” by Yu-Ju Chang, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Resized by Vanagrha; shared under the same licence.

Indian coral tree, photo 2 — 2 of 4 · Photo: Seema Merchant, iNaturalist, CC BY

Indian coral tree

ಹಾಲವಾಣமுள்முருக்க மரம்ముల్లుమోదుగ

Erythrina variegata L.

light: Full sun
water: —
tall: 21 m
wide: 9.0 m

Fabaceae

Also called India coralbean, Sunshine tree, Indian Coral Tree, Tiger's claw

Formerly Chirocalyx divaricatus, Chirocalyx indicus, Chirocalyx pictus, Corallodendron divaricatum, and 19 more

When it flowers

JFMAMJJASOND

Flowers January to April and July in the tropics.

Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.

PetsNo pet-safety information yet

PeopleNo safety information yet

If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.

Something wrong with it?

About it

Grows as: TreeKew's checklist, not yet checked
Climate: Wet tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
Wild in: Tanzania to PacificKew's checklist, not yet checked
Light: Full sun (6 h or more)Read from ICIMOD, one source
Height: 18 m to 24 mRead from ICIMOD, one source
Spread: 6.0 m to 12 mRead from ICIMOD, one source
Flowers: White, redRead from Wikipedia and ICIMOD, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources

Not known yet: water, coldest it survives, heat, hottest it survives.

Grow it with

Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.

In other languages (12)

Spanish: Colorín amarillo, Poró rayo de luna
Chinese: 刺桐, 波利質多羅, 黃脈刺桐
root: Gaogao, Rororangebard, Dadap
German: Indischer Korallenbaum
Czech: zarděnice pestrá
Japanese: デイゴ, デイコ, ムニンデイゴ
Chinese (China): 刺桐
Portuguese: Mulungu-verde-amarelo, Eritrínia-variegata, Brasileirinho
Thai: ทองหลางลาย
Polish: koralodrzew zmienny
Finnish: kirjokorallipuu
Marathi: पांगारा

Where this comes from

iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
ICIMOD, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY-SA 4.0
iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
3D model: Erythrina variegata (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own

A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.