Stem, arboreal, prickly, with broad-ovate, acute leaflets, a spathaceons calyx, an ovate, concave, spreading banner; the stamens, monadelphous at the base. Native of the East Indies. Rheed, Malabb. t. 7; Rnmph. Amb. 2, t. 76. Syn., E. corallodendron, B. Linn. spec. 992. E. orientalis, Murr. Comm. Goeth. 8, p. 85, t. 1 (?). Flowers, of a splendid scarlet color. In Rheed's figure, the calyx is acute, and much elongated. In Rnmphlas' figure, it is short and obtuse. Do they form two species.

The above is translated from Decandolle's Prodromus, t.2, p. 412. Don (whose description is a copy of the above) calls it Indian Coral-Tree, and adds: " Tree, twenty or thirty feet high." Neither of these authors, nor Loudon (who gives a figure of it on p. 605), mentions the name by which it is called in Cuba (Pinon real).

The Cyclopedia of Natural History says that the Erythrina monosperma (an East Indian species) is the tree from which gum-lac is obtained.

* See Frontispiece.