Description: A medium-sized tree typically branched near the ground, with large flat spines along the trunk. The branchlets have small, sharp spines. Leaves are alternate, compound, with three leaflets, and the base of the petiole is swollen and cylindrical. There are small, rounded glands on the petiole near the base of each leaflet.

Reproduction: Flowers are large, orange, and have a claw-like shape. They are produced conspicuously in December and January, and many birds are attracted to the nectar, especially the northern migrant orchard oriole. The fruit is a long, twisted pod, produced from March to May.

Distribution: Essentially a tree of the margins of lakes, large rivers, or swamps. It is conspicuous and abundant along the river in and around Gamboa, as well as along most parts of the Chagres River and Canal. In the Tocumen area east of Panama City, there are large stands of nearly pure Erythrina fusca; several can easily be seen from the Corredor Sur. It also sometimes appears in fence rows and other open areas away from water, especially in the Tocumen area.

Similar Species: This tree is unmistakable, as the large trunk spines and three-foliate leaves are completely distinctive. The flowers are also unmistakable, and easy to recognize at a distance.

Uses: It is cultivated in fence rows and for its ornamental flowers, although not often.

Descripción: Árbol de 10 a 20 m de alto. Copa redondeada a umbelada. Tronco con espinas cónicas, a veces son anchas y aplanadas. Corteza exterior blanca o gris. Ramitas terminales verdes y con espinas en forma de aguijón. Hojas trifolioladas y alternas, con el folíolo terminal grande y los otros dos más pequeños, verdes en el haz y blancos o grises por el envés. Folíolos de 5-15 x 3-9 cm, ovados a oblongos, con ápice obtuso o redondeado, bordes enteros y base redondeada o ligeramente cordada. Pecíolo de 8-18 cm de largo y con dos glándulas en el punto de unión de los folíolos basales. Flores anaranjadas, con un pétalo grande y colgante. Frutos en legumbres, de 19-30 cm de largo y con constricciones entre las semillas, verdes, tornándose rojizos y dehiscentes al madurar. Semillas con sarcotesta roja.

Datos Ecológicos: La especie crece a bajas elevaciones, en bosques y lugares secos o húmedos de todo el país. Común en áreas abiertas y pantanosas, también a orillas de ríos y riachuelos. Deja caer sus hojas durante la estación seca, pero las repone a inicios de la estación lluviosa. Florece y fructifica de noviembre a mayo. Las flores son visitadas por insectos, colibríes y otras aves.

Especies Parecidas: Por el parecido de las hojas se puede confundir con LK ery1co Erythrina costaricensis LK2 , pero E. costaricensis tiene flores rojas y tubulares, además es un arbolito pequeño que crece asociado a las pendientes y hondonadas dentro del bosque.

Usos: Se emplea como planta forrajera y para postes de cercas vivas. En el pasado se utilizó como barbasco en la captura de peces. También es plantado como árbol de sombra en plantaciones de café y cacao. Se puede usar como planta ornamental por el hermoso color de sus flores.

Lour., Fl. Cochinch. 427. 1790 Tree, mostly 10-20 m tall; trunk ca 1 m dbh; outer bark grayish, coarse, sparsely covered with broad corky prickles; wood white to yellowish, moderately soft; branches glabrous, sparsely armed with short prickles; petiolar bases persistent, prominent; on juveniles, the prickles larger and extending onto petioles, rachises, and midribs. Leaves trifoliolate; stipules caducous; petioles 8-18 cm long; rachis 4-8 cm long; both petiole and rachis with 2 glands at their apices; leaflets +/- ovate, +/- rounded at both ends or acute at apex, glabrous above, with a dense mat of white appressed trichomes below, the terminal leaflet 8-14 cm long and 7-12 cm wide, the lateral leaflets smaller. Flowers thick, mostly 3 per node, in large, terminal, somewhat pendent racemes; pedicels stout, turned away from apex, ca 2 cm long; flowers showy, pale orange; calyx spathelike; standard spatulate, ca 5 cm long, reflexed; keel open at apex, ca 2.5 cm long, the wings somewhat shorter, greenish below, bright orange above; stamens diadelphous, green, gradually arched, about halfway exserted; filaments of 3 lengths in 5-4-1 arrangement, the free stamen one of the shorter 5; anthers held in an open pattern over the entrance to the nectaries through the open end of the keel; style bent sharply away from anthers just below apex; stigma usually between the shorter 2 sets of anthers in length; nectar copious. Legumes ca 19 cm long and 2 cm wide, densely brown-tomentose, pointed at apex, weakly ribbed on margins; seeds several, ellipsoid, dark brown, ca 12 mm long, possibly expelled forcibly. Croat 8203. Rare, on the shore. Elsewhere in the Canal Zone common to locally abundant, generally near bodies of water. The leaves are deciduous shortly after flowering. Flowers from November to March, usually in February. The fruits mature from February to May, mostly in May. The plant is probably hummingbird pollinated. The curare-like alkaloids erthraline, erythramine, and erythratine have been obtained from this species (Blohm, 1962). Guatemala throughout the Amazon basin; West Indies; widespread in the Old World tropics. In Panama, known only from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Bocas del Toro, Coclé, Panama, and Darien. The species sometimes forms pure stands in freshwater marshes (Holdridge, 1970). See Fig. 287.

Bocas Species Database

Distribution: Isla Colón   Characteristics: Large tree