Erythrina senegalensis (coral tree)

Native to Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Niger, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon.

There are no known threats to this coral tree, which is quite widespread and widely planted, though the extensive use of its bark for medicine often causes trees to be almost stripped of their bark.

Conservation assessments carried out by Kew

Erythrina senegalensis is being monitored as part of the Sampled Red List Index Project, which aims to produce conservation assessments for a representative sample of the world’s plant species. This information will then be used to monitor trends in extinction risk and help focus conservation efforts where they are needed most.

This coral tree has a large number of traditional medicinal uses in West Africa. The bark and roots are used against stomach disorders and as a general tonic, and the bark and leaves are used for dressing wounds. The wood is used for making knife handles. The seeds are made into necklaces and used as game counters, despite being poisonous. Erythrina senegalensis is planted as an ornamental and used for hedging.

Kew's Millennium Seed Bank Partnership aims to save plant life world wide, focusing on plants under threat and those likely to be of most use in the future. Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in our seed bank vault.

Description of seeds: Average 1,000 seed weight = 144.34 g.
Number of seed collections stored in the Millennium Seed Bank: Two.
Seed storage behaviour: Orthodox (the seeds of this plant survive drying without significant reduction in their viability, and are therefore amenable to long-term frozen storage such as at the MSB)
Germination testing: 85% germination was achieved with a pre-sowing treatment (seed scarified - chipped with a scalpel) on a germination medium of 1% agar, at a temperature of 21°C, with a cycle of 12 hours of daylight / 12 hours of darkness.
Composition values: Average oil content = 12%.

This coral tree can be grown easily and quickly from woody cuttings.

Erythrina senegalensis is not grown in the Living Collections at Kew, but spirit-preserved specimens are held in the Herbarium, where they are made available to bona fide researchers by appointment. The details of some of these specimens can be seen in the on-line Herbarium Catalogue. Coral tree pods and seeds are also held in the Economic Botany Collection.

Erythrina senegalensis (Image: Xander van der Burgt)

Search Kew's databases for more information on this species

JSTOR – Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa – Erythrina senegalensis

More about the legume family (Leguminosae)

Kew’s Leguminosae science team

Buy 'Legumes of the World' by G. Lewis, B. Schrire, B. Mackinder & M. Lock (eds.)