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Coral for colour

The bright crimson flowers of the coral tree make for a gorgeous sight

SPLASH OF RED When in bloom, the coral tree is radiant

Kalyana murungai, botanically known as Erythrina indica, is one of the most colourful indigenous trees of peninsular India. Erythrina is from the Greek word erythros, meaning red in allusion to the colour of the bloom and indica to its country of origin. It is a deciduous tree with an erect, stout, thorny stem and sparse branching. The leaves are large, composed of three broad wedge shaped leaflets.

The trifoliate leaf was popular with the early Christians in India, as representing the Trinity. Before the leaves emerge, coral trees display a spectacular show with bright crimson flowers in dense terminal clusters. The pods that follow the flowers are cylindrical and constricted between the reddish brown seeds.

The bark of the tree is antipyretic and used in the treatment of epilepsy, dysmenorrhoea (painful menstruation) and skin ulcers. The leaves are laxative, diuretic, anthelmintic, galactagogue (agent inducing milk secretion) and emmenagogue (promoting menstrual discharge). In India, it is cultivated as a support for various climbing plants particularly the betel leaf. Being an excellent nitrogen fixer, it is planted in tea plantations and in fields to improve the yield and hence is widely used in agro-forestry programmes.

PAULINE DEBORAH & RIDLING MARGARET WALLER

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