Species
+

Erythrina variegata L.

India coralbean, Indian Coral Tree, Indian coral tree, Indian coraltree

Climate known 73 photographs
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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 variegata, commonly known as tiger's claw or Indian coral tree, is a species of Erythrina native to the tropical and subtropical regions of eastern Africa, the Indian subcontinent, northern Australia, and the islands of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean east to Fiji.

Text from Wikipedia, “Erythrina variegata”, 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
L.
Native to
Tanzania, Aldabra, Comoros +53
Wild records
973 in range· 638 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Mar, mean day; nights 22 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1706mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Aug 230 mm (CHELSA)
Light
29–37DLI
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 sharp rainy season, April to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.4 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1706 mm a year, wettest August at 230 mm, driest January at 59 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 15.6 °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 Chirocalyx candolleanus Walp.; Chirocalyx divaricatus (Moc. & Sessé ex DC.) Walp.; Chirocalyx indicus (Lam.) Walp.; Chirocalyx pictus (L.) Walp.; Corallodendron divaricatum (Moc. & Sessé ex DC.) Kuntze and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, April to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.4 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

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

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1281 mm of 1706 mm) falls in April to October. The temperature curve is flat, 2.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

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 1706 mm a year, wettest August at 230 mm, driest January at 59 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1706 mm a year at the habitat, 1281 mm of it April to October. Wettest month August at 230 mm, driest January at 59 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1050 mm to 3725 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: 29 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 37 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 19, the highest 90th-percentile month 45).

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 15.6 °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 15.6 °C, the absolute minimum 13.4 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 20.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells 9.6 °C to 25.8 °C), warmest day 28.2 °C in March (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.6 °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: 62 to 66% 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 27 °C in Dec to 28 °C in Mar; mean night from 21 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1706 mm of rain a year, most in Aug. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 731 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 13.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°32.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)13.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 29–37RH 62–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 731 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 °C27 / 18–3128 / 19–3228 / 21–3428 / 24–3628 / 24–3528 / 23–3228 / 22–3128 / 22–3128 / 24–3128 / 24–3127 / 22–3027 / 19–30
Night °C21 / 10–2621 / 11–2622 / 15–2623 / 17–2624 / 19–2624 / 18–2624 / 17–2623 / 18–2623 / 18–2522 / 17–2522 / 14–2621 / 11–26
Rain mm59 / 5–40871 / 4–38099 / 11–348147 / 9–300164 / 19–318188 / 39–557228 / 32–767230 / 19–551199 / 18–402125 / 28–374112 / 19–29284 / 7–307
DLI34 / 19–4035 / 21–4037 / 26–4336 / 29–4533 / 27–4430 / 24–3729 / 23–3731 / 23–3733 / 27–4033 / 27–4331 / 22–4332 / 19–41
RH %62 / 51–6863 / 49–6963 / 47–6963 / 49–6964 / 49–7065 / 54–7265 / 59–7366 / 59–7365 / 59–7063 / 54–6963 / 52–6862 / 51–68

Each figure is the median across the 731 grid cells holding the 950 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 1955:5832 (-7.775, 111.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 13.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.1 °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 731 distinct grid cells holding the 950 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1955:5832 (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 -8.00_111.875, lapse-corrected +443 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 706 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.
NativeTanzania, Aldabra, Comoros, Madagascar, Seychelles, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Laccadive Is., Maldives, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Cocos (Keeling) I., Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, Fiji, Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Cook Is., Marquesas, Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is.· introduced: Egypt, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Senegal, Gulf of Guinea Is., Sudan, Uganda, Chagos Archipelago, Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Ogasawara-shoto, Nepal, Wallis-Futuna Is., Line Is., Pitcairn Is., Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.
Kew's description“tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker9.132, 76.632 · in the densest population, 141 records (14% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 973 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 638 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 213 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 23 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 of the 973 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Erythrina variegataErythrina variegataErythrina variegataErythrina variegataErythrina variegataErythrina variegataErythrina variegataErythrina variegata

Photographs: (c) T R Shankar Raman, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Cheng-Te Hsu, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Dinesh Valke, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (5).

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 variegata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antibacterial activity of isoflavonoids isolated from Erythrina variegata against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
H. Tanaka, Masaru Satô, Shuu Fujiwara, Miyuki Hirata (2002) · Letters in Applied Microbiology
Influence of AM fungi on the growth and physiological status of Erythrina variegata Linn. grown under different water stress conditions
P. T. Manoharan, Vellasamy Shanmugaiah, N. Balasubramanian, S. Gomathinayagam (2010) · European Journal of Soil Biology
Erythrina variegata Linn: A review on morphology, phytochemistry, and pharmacological aspects
Sutharson Lingadurai, A. S. Jain, NR Barman, Avvari Sanjeeva Kumar (2010) · Pharmacognosy Reviews/Bioinformatics Trends/Pharmacognosy review
Antibacterial property of isoflavonoids isolated from Erythrina variegata against cariogenic oral bacteria
Masaru Satô, H. Tanaka, Shuu Fujiwara, Miyuki Hirata (2003) · Phytomedicine
Regulation and symbiotic significance of nodulation outer proteins secretion in Sinorhizobium fredii HH103
Francisco Javier López‐Baena, José‐María Vinardell, Francisco Pérez‐Montaño, Juan Carlos Crespo‐Rivas (2008) · Microbiology
Erythrina—Chemical and Pharmacological Evaluation II: Alkaloids of Erythrina variegata L
S. Ghosal, Sudip Kumar Dutta, Sujit Bhattacharya (1972) · Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Synergistic effects of mupirocin and an isoflavanone isolated from Erythrina variegata on growth and recovery of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Masaru Satô, Hitoshi Tanaka, Ryozo Yamaguchi, Kuniki Kato (2004) · International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents
Dimeric Erythrina Alkaloids from the Flower of Erythrina variegata
Bing‐Jie Zhang, Mei‐Fen Bao, Chun‐Xia Zeng, Xiu-Hong Zhong (2014) · Organic Letters
Anti-osteoporotic effect of Erythrina variegata L. in ovariectomized rats
Yan Zhang, Xiaoli Li, Wan‐Ping Lai, Bin Chen (2006) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology

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 126 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.