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Erythrina humeana; photograph (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2026-04-11

Erythrina humeana Spreng.

Dwarf Coral Tree; Dwarf erythrina; Dwarf Kaffirboom; Small Kaffir Tree

Fabaceae · Mozambique, Zimbabwe +5

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Erythrina humeana, photograph (c) Suvarna Parbhoo Mohan, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Erythrina humeana, photograph (c) Suvarna Parbhoo Mohan, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Erythrina humeana, photograph (c) Suvarna Parbhoo Mohan, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Erythrina humeana, photograph (c) Shedron Mukhumo, some rights reserved (CC BY)Erythrina humeana, photograph (c) Shedron Mukhumo, some rights reserved (CC BY)Erythrina humeana, photograph (c) Shedron Mukhumo, some rights reserved (CC BY) 73 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
8.6°C
Record low 3.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
878mm
10 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
21–38DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes April to September (October to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Erythrina humeana, commonly known as the dwarf coral tree, dwarf erythrina or Natal coral tree, is an ornamental tree native to South Africa.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Erythrina humeana", CC BY-SA 4.0.

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 ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Erythrina", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (657 mm of 868 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.4 °C against a yearly mean of 20.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Rain

868 mm in the median year at the habitat, 657 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 127 mm, driest months (2 at 23 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 614 mm to 1,097 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 878 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 868 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 21 to 38 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 19, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 8.6 °C, the absolute minimum 3.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 11.4 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 5.5 °C to 14.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.1 °C in January and February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 8.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: 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 moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

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

Light. 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.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -40 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Erythrina humeana through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 11.4 °C; 868 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°50°40.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER3.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 21–38RH 54–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 183 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 25–3127 / 25–3026 / 24–3025 / 23–2823 / 21–2622 / 19–2421 / 19–2422 / 21–2523 / 21–2824 / 21–2825 / 22–2926 / 24–30
Night °C20 / 16–2221 / 16–2220 / 15–2217 / 12–2014 / 9–1812 / 6–1511 / 6–1513 / 7–1615 / 9–1716 / 11–1818 / 13–2019 / 15–21
Rain mm127 / 99–153117 / 90–14193 / 73–12652 / 38–8031 / 13–4823 / 7–4023 / 8–4132 / 10–5250 / 16–8191 / 43–115113 / 88–138116 / 87–140
DLI38 / 34–4036 / 33–3832 / 30–3427 / 26–2924 / 22–2621 / 19–2422 / 20–2526 / 24–2930 / 29–3432 / 30–3535 / 33–3938 / 35–41
RH %63 / 58–6863 / 59–6863 / 59–6761 / 57–6458 / 54–6155 / 52–5854 / 52–5856 / 52–5959 / 53–6261 / 55–6562 / 57–6662 / 58–67
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 183 grid cells holding the 260 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2325:4237 (-26.275, 31.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 3.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 8.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 183 distinct grid cells holding 260 of the 260 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2325:4237 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -26.50_31.875, lapse-corrected -40 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 271 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 the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMozambique, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces · introduced: Kenya · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-29.779, 30.771 · in the densest population, 244 records (66% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 372 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 260 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 130 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 14 km away. 13 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 112 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 372 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Erythrina humeana, photograph 1did not loadErythrina humeana, photograph 2did not loadErythrina humeana, photograph 3did not loadErythrina humeana, photograph 4did not loadErythrina humeana, photograph 5did not loadErythrina humeana, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Suvarna Parbhoo Mohan, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3); (c) Shedron Mukhumo, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Crotalaria lanceolata Crotalaria lanceolata Lanceleaf rattlebox Photo: CC BY, carterJusticia petiolaris Justicia petiolaris Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, avephillAerangis mystacidii Aerangis mystacidii Subtropical Moustache Orchid Photo: CC BY, Andreas De BeerCommiphora harveyi Commiphora harveyi Copper-stem Corkwood Photo: CC BY, Karen EichholzSenecio madagascariensis Senecio madagascariensis Madagascar ragwort Photo: CC BY, Ezequiel RackerPavetta lanceolata Pavetta lanceolata Weeping Brides-bush Photo: CC BY-SA, Andrew Hankey

Other Erythrina 40 in the reference

Erythrina abyssinica Erythrina abyssinica Luckybean Tree Photo: CC BY, Jiro IguchiErythrina acanthocarpa Erythrina acanthocarpa Thorny coraltree Photo: CC BY-SA, Kate Webster00Erythrina americana Erythrina americana American Coral Tree Photo: CC BY, Franceli MacedoErythrina arborescens Erythrina arborescens Himalayan Coral Tree Photo: CC BY-SA, WoudloperErythrina berteroana Erythrina berteroana Machete Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialErythrina breviflora Erythrina breviflora Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Oscar Alejandro Morales JuárezErythrina caffra Erythrina caffra Coral tree Photo: CC BY-SA, Ron KErythrina corallodendron Erythrina corallodendron Coral erythrina Photo: CC BY, lienyuan leeErythrina costaricensis Erythrina costaricensis Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Anthony Mora AguilarErythrina crista-galli Erythrina crista-galli Cockspur coral tree Photo: CC BY, Rafael TosiErythrina decora Erythrina decora Namib Coral Tree Photo: CC0, author not statedErythrina edulis Erythrina edulis Basul Photo: CC BY, GERMAN LEONEL SARMIENTO CRUZ all 41 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Corallodendron humei; Corallodendron princeps; Erythrina erythrostachia; Erythrina hastifolia; Erythrina humei and 4 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Erythrina caffra Ker Gawl. is an older name of this species, not Erythrina caffra, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
Spreng.
Native to
Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces +4
Wild records
372 in range · 130 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 20 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (17 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 3 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -26.50_31.875, lapse-corrected -40 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 21 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…