Erythrina suberosa Roxb.

Description :

A medium size tree, 12 to 15 m in height. The leaves are compound with leaflets in threes. The leaflets are 10 to 20 cm long and broad. Leaves may be armed a few scattered prickles. The bark is corky and deeply cracked. The branches and bark are armed with yellowish, white thorns. The flowers which appear in February are deep red. The pods are large 12 to 16 cm long and mature in June and July. It can be reproduced both from seed and by vegetative means. A fast-growing tree that attains diameters of one m in 40 years. It has no known insect or disease problems. Wood is soft and not durable, but fibrous and tough, light color, with straight grains and has a calorific value of 4800 kcal/kg.

Distribution :

The tree is native to the subcontinent. In Pakistan it is distributed in the Punjab west of the Ravi River. This intolerant tree grows on sandy loams soils in a moist sub-tropical climate where precipitation exceeds 800 mm/yr at an elevation up to 800 m. It has a temperature range of 2 to 40°C.

Uses :

Because of its fast growth and nitrogen fixing properties it would be considered a good farm forestry tree. It is highly regarded as a landscape improvement tree. Also used as fuel, ornamental and medicinal (bark as a febrifuge).