Tiger's Claw - Indian Coral Tree - Erythrina indica

Erythrina indica is a medium-sized, spiny, deciduous tree normally
growing to 6-9 m (occasionally 28 m) tall and 60 cm dbh. Young stems
and branches are thickly armed with stout conical spines up to 8 mm long,
which fall off after 2-4 years; rarely, a few spines persist and are retained
with the corky bark. Bark smooth and green when young, exfoliating in
papery flakes, becoming thick, corky and deeply fissured with age.
Leaves trifoliate, alternate, bright emerald-green, on long petioles 6-15
cm, rachis 5-30 cm long, prickly; leaflets smooth, shiny, broader than long,
8-20 by 5-15 cm, ovate to acuminate with an obtusely pointed end. Leaf
petiole and rachis are spiny.
Flowers in bright pink to scarlet erect terminal racemes 15-20 cm long;
stamens slightly protruding from the flower.
Fruit a cylindrical torulose pod, green, turning black and wrinkly as they
ripen, thin-walled and constricted around the seeds.
There are 1-8 smooth, oblong, dark red to almost black seeds per pod.
Erythrina comes from the Greek word ‘eruthros’ meaning red, alluding to
the showy red flowers of the Erythrina species.
BIOLOGY
In India, the rich, red blooms make their striking appearance among the
leafless branches in January-March. The short lived flowers are quickly
followed by the new leaves in early summer. A coral tree in full bloom is
like an aviary. Crows, Mynahs, rosy-pastors, babblers and parakeets, as
well as numerous bees and wasps swarm round to eat nectar, pollinating
the trees. Soon after flowering, the big green pods begin to form