Erythrina herbacea

A multiple stemmed shrub with alternate or clustered trifoliate leaves with recurved spines on the rachis. It has showy red flower in late spring turning into brown legume pods with 5-10 scarlet seeds.

Easily grown from its bean-like seeds. The seeds develop dormancy when allowed to ripen in the pod. If removed from the pod before it opens the seeds will germinate fresh. Volunteer seedlings often appear around fruiting specimens.

The Acadian French name for E. herbacea is "mamou," named for a town in the center of the Cajun prairie area. It is thought to be a corruption of mammoth, since mammoth fossils have been discovered in the area (Holmes 1990). It grows in sandy woods and prairie remnants of the coastal plain in Louisiana and Texas. The Indians of Texas and Louisiana, and later the children of white settlers, were said to use the red beans to make jewelry. A tea made from E. herbacea was used as a medicinal in Louisiana. However, the plant contains a powerful alkaloid that acts in a similar way to curare, affecting the motor nerves, and is quite dangerous. The seeds are used in Mexico to poison rats, dogs, and fish (Holmes 1990). Erythrina has many common names including "Devil in the bush" which is thought to come from the large recurved thorns which snag the clothes and flesh of passersby.

Open sandy woods and clearings.