Species
+

Erythrina crista-galli L.

Brazilian Coral Tree, Cockspur coral tree, Crybabytree, ceibo

Climate known 65 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 crista-galli, also known as the cockspur coral tree, ceibo or corticeira, is a species of flowering tree in the family Fabaceae, native to Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, southern Brazil and Paraguay. It is widely planted as a street or garden tree in other countries, notably in California. Its specific epithet crista-galli means "cock's comb" in Latin.

Text from Wikipedia, “Erythrina crista-galli”, 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
Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast +5
Wild records
622 in range· 335 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Jan, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1203mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Feb 131 mm (CHELSA)
Light
15–46DLI
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, April to October in the northern hemisphere (October to April at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1203 mm a year, wettest February at 131 mm, driest July at 56 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 46 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 0.7 °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 crista-galli (L.) Kuntze; Erythrina compacta W.Bull; Erythrina crista-galli subsp. hasskarlii Backer; Erythrina crista-galli subsp. leucochlora Lombardo; Erythrina crista-galli var. corallina N.F.Mattos and 12 more.

Cultivation

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

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 (859 mm of 1203 mm) falls in October to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.4 °C against a yearly mean of 18.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to October.

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 1203 mm a year, wettest February at 131 mm, driest July at 56 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1203 mm a year at the habitat, 859 mm of it October to April. Wettest month February at 131 mm, driest July at 56 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1059 mm to 1788 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern 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: 15 to 46 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 46 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 14, 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 0.7 °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 0.7 °C, the absolute minimum -3.0 °C, about 2 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.4 °C in July (across the envelope cells 6.2 °C to 13.1 °C), warmest day 29.0 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.7 °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: 58 to 63% 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 16 °C in Jul to 29 °C in Jan; mean night from 8 °C in Jul to 20 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1203 mm of rain a year, most in Feb. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 382 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -3.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.9 °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°frost38.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)-3.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 15–46RH 58–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 382 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 °C29 / 26–3228 / 25–3126 / 24–3023 / 20–2719 / 17–2317 / 14–2216 / 13–2219 / 15–2420 / 16–2623 / 20–2826 / 22–2928 / 24–31
Night °C20 / 18–2320 / 18–2219 / 16–2215 / 13–1912 / 10–169 / 7–148 / 6–1310 / 8–1411 / 9–1614 / 12–1816 / 14–2019 / 16–22
Rain mm125 / 95–215131 / 104–174131 / 101–173111 / 85–19091 / 56–13665 / 29–13456 / 27–13057 / 30–11375 / 55–153122 / 97–175120 / 100–180119 / 83–189
DLI45 / 37–4739 / 36–4032 / 31–3424 / 23–2818 / 17–2215 / 14–2117 / 15–2223 / 21–2729 / 26–3136 / 33–3743 / 39–4446 / 38–48
RH %58 / 55–6560 / 57–6560 / 58–6461 / 59–6462 / 60–6463 / 61–6461 / 59–6459 / 56–6359 / 56–6459 / 56–6459 / 55–6358 / 55–63

Each figure is the median across the 382 grid cells holding the 605 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 2442:2386 (-32.125, -60.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.9 °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 382 distinct grid cells holding the 605 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2442:2386 (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 -32.00_-60.625, lapse-corrected -26 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 9 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.
NativeBrazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay, Uruguay· introduced: Egypt, Madeira, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, India, Nepal, Jawa, New Guinea, New South Wales, Queensland, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Society Is., Hawaii, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Bolivia, Peru
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-34.612, -58.398 · in the densest population, 235 records (38% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 622 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 335 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 774 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 17 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 622 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Erythrina crista-galliErythrina crista-galliErythrina crista-galliErythrina crista-galliErythrina crista-galliErythrina crista-galliErythrina crista-galliErythrina crista-galli

Photographs: (c) Rafael Tosi, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) vinicius_s_domingues, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (2).

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

THE PREDICTIVE VALUE OF NECTAR CHEMISTRY TO THE RECOGNITION OF POLLINATOR TYPES
Herbert G. Baker, Irene Baker (1990) · Israel journal of botany. Basic and applied plant sciences
Phomol, a New Antiinflammatory Metabolite from an Endophyte of the Medicinal Plant Erythrina crista-galli
Daniela Weber, Olov Sterner, Timm Anke, Susanna Gorzalczancy (2004) · The Journal of Antibiotics
Reproductive Biology of Erythrina crista-galli (Fabaceae)
Leonardo Galetto, Gabriel Bernardello, Irene C. Isele, José L. Vesprini (2000) · Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden
Structures of New Erythrinan Alkaloids and Nitric Oxide Production Inhibitors from Erythrina crista-galli
Masaaki Ozawa, Shunsuke Kawamata, Tadahiro Etoh, Masahiko Hayashi (2010) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Erycristin, a new antimicrobial petrocarpan from Erythrina crista-galli
Lester A. Mitscher, Rao Gollapudi, David C. Gerlach, Steven D. Drake (1988) · Phytochemistry
Three pterocarpans from Erythrina crista-galli
Hitoshi Tanaka, Toshihiro Tanaka, Hideo Etoh (1997) · Phytochemistry
Phytodegradation Potential of Erythrina crista-galli L., Fabaceae, in Petroleum-Contaminated Soil
Vanessa de Farias, Leila Teresinha Maranho, Eliane Carvalho de Vasconcelos, Marco Aurélio da Silva Carvalho Filho (2009) · Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Metabolites from Endophytes of the Medicinal Plant Erythrina crista-galli
Daniela Weber, Susana Gorzalczany, Virginia S. Martino, Cristina Acevedo (2005) · Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C
Composição e estrutura do componente arbóreo nas matas turfosas do Taim, Rio Grande do Sul
Jorge Luiz Waechter, João André Jarenkow (1998) · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)
Biosynthesis of Erythrina alkaloids in Erythrina crista-galli
Ulrich Maier, Wolfgang Rödl, Brigitte Deus‐Neumann, Meinhart H. Zenk (1999) · Phytochemistry
Phenol oxidation and biosynthesis. Part XVIII. The structure and biosynthesis of Erythrina alkaloids
D. H. R. Barton, R. James, G. W. KIRBY, D. W. Turner (1968) · Journal of the Chemical Society C Organic

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