Species
+

Erythrina americana Mill.

American Coral Tree, Naked Coral Tree, Nuted Coral Tree, Yág-ptûots

Climate known 75 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Erythrina americana, is a flowering plant of the genus Erythrina which is native to Mexico. Colorín is the name of a type of tree, Erythrina americana also called Tzompāmitl. The word colorín means color chillón—a “gaudy” or “loud” color.

Text from Wikipedia, “Erythrina americana”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Erythrina

Erythrina is a genus of plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 130 species, which are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. They are trees, with the larger species growing up to 30 m (98 ft) in height. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Erythrina”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
Mill.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +3
Wild records
1133 in range· 553 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
May, mean day; nights 15 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
979mm/yr
7 wet months · peak Jul 198 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–45DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 979 mm a year, wettest July at 198 mm, driest December at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 45 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 4.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Corallodendron americanum (Mill.) Kuntze; Corallodendron coralloides (Moc. & Sessé ex DC.) Kuntze; Corallodendron roseum (A.Dietr.) Kuntze; Erythrina carnea Aiton; Erythrina coralloides Moc. & Sessé and 7 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (June to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (741 mm of 979 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.1 °C against a yearly mean of 18.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 979 mm a year, wettest July at 198 mm, driest December at 9 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

979 mm a year at the habitat, 741 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 198 mm, driest December at 9 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 568 mm to 2162 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 45 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 45 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 4.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 4.6 °C, the absolute minimum 0.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.7 °C in January (across the envelope cells 5.5 °C to 17.5 °C), warmest day 27.7 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 52 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 22 °C in Jan to 28 °C in May; mean night from 9 °C in Jan to 16 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 979 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 729 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 0.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost35.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)0.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 30–45RH 52–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 729 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C22 / 19–2623 / 20–2826 / 22–3028 / 24–3228 / 24–3226 / 22–3124 / 21–3024 / 21–3024 / 20–2923 / 20–2823 / 20–2722 / 19–26
Night °C9 / 6–189 / 6–1811 / 8–1913 / 10–2115 / 11–2316 / 12–2315 / 11–2315 / 11–2315 / 11–2313 / 10–2111 / 8–209 / 6–18
Rain mm19 / 8–6613 / 8–5712 / 5–5426 / 9–7965 / 31–143175 / 89–324198 / 110–347187 / 97–329181 / 92–38876 / 40–23218 / 9–1019 / 5–67
DLI32 / 23–3437 / 28–3943 / 34–4545 / 38–4843 / 39–4838 / 34–4338 / 34–4137 / 34–4133 / 30–3633 / 28–3532 / 25–3430 / 22–32
RH %54 / 49–6853 / 47–6652 / 44–6452 / 44–6455 / 48–6662 / 56–6964 / 59–6964 / 59–6965 / 60–7162 / 57–6958 / 52–6856 / 50–68

Each figure is the median across the 729 grid cells holding the 1113 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1400:1545 (19.975, -102.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 0.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 729 distinct grid cells holding the 1113 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1400:1545 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 20.00_-102.500, lapse-corrected -38 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1705 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast
Kew's description“tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker20.192, -100.69 · in the densest population, 861 records (76% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1133 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 553 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 86 km away. 43 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 20 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1133 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Erythrina americanaErythrina americanaErythrina americanaErythrina americanaErythrina americanaErythrina americanaErythrina americanaErythrina americana

Photographs: (c) Cliff Tyllick, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6); (c) Claudia Ramírez, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Erythrina americana, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

ISOLATION OF ERYTHROIDINE, AN ALKALOID OF CURARE ACTION, FROM ERYTHRINA AMERICANA MILL.
Karl Folkers, Randolph T. Major (1937) · Journal of the American Chemical Society
Effect of crude extracts of Erythrina americana Mill. on aggressive behavior in rats
Ma.Eugenia Garı́n-Aguilar, Jorge E. Ramı́rez Luna, Marcos Soto‐Hernández, Gustavo Valencia del Toro (2000) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Erythrina Americana Miller (“Colorín”; Fabaceae), a versatile resource from Mexico: A Review
Rosario García-Mateos, Marcos Soto‐Hernández, Heike Vibrans (2001) · Economic Botany
Alkaloids from the flowers of Erythrina americana
María Isabel Aguilar, Francisco Giral, Ofelia Espejo (1981) · Phytochemistry
Edible flowers commercialized in local markets of Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo, Mexico
Carmen Julia Figueredo-Urbina, Gonzalo D. Álvarez-Ríos, Laura Cortés-Zárraga (2021) · Botanical Sciences
Variation of Total Nitrogen, Non-protein Nitrogen Content, and Types of Alkaloids at Different Stages of Development in Erythrina americana Seeds
Rosario García-Mateos, B. Lucas, M. Zendejas, Marcos Soto‐Hernández (1996) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
ACTIONS OF ERYTHRINA AMERICANA, A POSSIBLE CURARE SUBSTITUTE
A.J. LEHMAN (1937) · Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
Alkaloid production in elicited cell suspension cultures of Erythrina americana Miller
Rubén San Miguel-Chávez, Marcos Soto‐Hernández, Ana C. Ramos‐Valdivia, Geoffrey C. Kite (2007) · Phytochemistry Reviews
Curare-Actions of Erythrina Americana
A.J. LEHMAN (1936) · Experimental Biology and Medicine
Evaluación antihelmíntica de cuatro extractos de árboles forrajeros contra el nematodo Haemonchus contortus bajo condiciones in vitro
Itzel Santiago-Figueroa, Alejandro Lara-Bueno, Roberto González-Gardúño, Pedro Mendoza de Gives (2023) · Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Pecuarias
Effect of Drying on the Antioxidant Capacity and Concentration of Phenolic Compounds in Different Parts of the Erythrina americana Tree
Aurea Bernardino‐Nicanor, José Luis Montañez-Soto, María de los Ángeles Vivar‐Vera, José Mayolo Simitrio Juárez-Goiz (2016) · BioResources
ACTIVIDAD ANTIOXIDANTE DE ALCALOIDES DE Erythrina americana Miller
Emmanuel Ibarra-Estrada, Maribel Pacheco-Sánchez, Rosario García-Mateos, Rubén San Miguel-Chávez (2011) · Revista Fitotecnia Mexicana

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Erythrina 6 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 82 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.