Plants in the Hortus

Erythrina caffra Thunb.

Frost-tender, wide-spreading, semi-evergreen tree with sometimes prickly branches, prickly-stalked leaves composed of 3 leaflets, and dense, terminal racemes, to 15cm long, of orange-scarlet flowers with broad, arching, standard petals, in spring.  To 18m.  [RHSE, Hortus].

Erythrina corallodendron L.

Frost-tender, deciduous, prickly, shrub or small tree with racemes, to 30cm long, of deep scarlet-red flowers in spring and summer, the flowers opening after the leaves have fallen.  To 6m.  [RHSD, Hortus].

Erythrina crista-galli L.

Variable, frost-hardy, open, deciduous tree or woody-based perennial, depending on climate, with spiny branches, leathery leaves composed of 3 leaflets, and terminal racemes, to 60cm long, of deep red flowers, to 6cm long, in summer and autumn.  To 4m.  [RHSE, Hortus, Hilliers’].

Erythrina crista-galli L. var. laurifolia

See Erythrina crista-galli L. for information on the type.  Laurifolia has laurel-like leaves and flowers of a rich, dull crimson.  

Erythrina herbacea L.

Frost-hardy, semi-herbaceous, woody-based perennial with leaves composed of 3 leaflets and terminal racemes, to 60cm long, of deep scarlet flowers, to 5cm long, in summer and autumn.  To 1m.  [RHSE, Hortus].

Erythrina humeana Spreng.

Frost-tender, small, prickly tree with scarlet-red flowers in slender, terminal, nodding racemes, to 50cm long.  To 4m.  [RHSD].

Erythrina lithosperma Miq.

A tall tree, with branchlets often unarmed, the leaflets glabrous, greenish, the end one roundish, acute.  Flowers in racemes contemporaneous with the leaves.  Calyx velvety, finally splitting down nearly to the base in two lips.  Stalked pod much recurved, 4-5 in. long, broader in lower half.  [J. D. Hooker - The Flora of British India p.190/1879].

Erythrina numerosa A.R.Bean

A single specimen was sent to John Lindley at the London Horticultural Society, an accompanying letter dated 11th February 1848 describing it as ‘Erythrina sp. Dr. Leichhardt’s expedition, small tree bearing orange coloured blossoms.’  [MP A2933-1, p.157].

Erythrina variegata L.

Frost-tender, spreading deciduous tree with many robust branches scattered with prickles, although sometimes unarmed, broadly diamond-shaped leaves, to 40cm long, rich green and variegated light green and yellow along the main veins, and dense terminal racemes of scarlet or crimson flowers, to 20cm long, appearing mainly when the tree is leafless.  To 25m.  [RHSE, Hortus].

Erythrina variegata L. var. carnea

Frost-tender shrub or small tree with prickly stems and pale pink or red flowers.  [Don].  Erythrina variegata L. is somewhat variable.  Carnea probably differs only in having pinker flowers.

Erythrina vespertilio Benth.

Frost-tender, bushy, slender tree with 2-lobed leaves and very variable flowers, from orange to scarlet, in racemes to 30cm long, in spring.  To 13m.  [RHSD, FNSW, Blombery].

Erythrina x bidwillii ‘Blakei’

A cultivar of Erythrina x bidwillii Lindl. which is a hybrid of Erythrina herbacea L. x Erythrina crista-galli L.  A sterile hybrid produced at Camden.  A spiny shrub with leaves composed of 3 obovate to cordiform leaflets, the terminal one larger, intermediate in habit between Erythrina herbacea L. and Erythrina crista-galli L., which see for further details.  ‘Blakei’ conforms more closely to the E. herbacea female parent in not forming a distinct trunk but a large, squat bole from which long arching shoots emerge in the spring.  It flowers on both long terminal racemes, to 30cm or so long, and smaller axillary clusters.  Our observation is that it flowers better from last season’s wood so some care in pruning will probably produce more flowers.  Well grown plants will produce a large number of flower spikes in the spring and early summer and spot flower throughout the summer.  The flower shoots are of a purplish colour and the flowers a brilliant intense red colour, approaching vermillion, much brighter than either parent, equally striking in bud and with the large standard expanded.

The un-ripened growth is quite frost tender and shoots die back in winter to the hardened, woody bole.  In frost-free conditions semi-ripened wood will survive the winter.  ‘Blakei’ forms a rounded shrub that may be 2-3 metres or more across and 2-3 metres high.  [This description is taken from observations of the sole remaining plant at Camden Park, subject to frost each year, and plants that appear identical growing in the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens.  These plants are growing in frost-free conditions.  See Notes below for more detail.]

Erythrina x bidwillii ‘Camdeni’

A cultivar of Erythrina x bidwillii Lindl. which is a hybrid of Erythrina herbacea L. x Erythrina crista-galli L.  A sterile hybrid produced at Camden.  Both parents were grown at Camden Park.  Refer to the appropriate Hortus entry for details of the parents.  Half-hardy, large, deciduous shrub or small tree, depending on growing conditions, with robust, sparsely-branched, spiny stems, leaves composed of 3 obovate to cordiform leaflets, the flowers borne in small axillary clusters and terminal racemes, to 30cm or more long, in summer.  Several plants identified as Erythrina x bidwillii survive in the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens.  All are small to medium trees and appear to be of considerable age.  These plants conform with the description and figure of Erythrina bidwillii Lindl. in the Botanical Register, quoted here.  This evidence, together with the presence in the Melbourne gardens of several plants identified as Erythrina x bidwillii var. ‘Blakei’, which see, strongly suggests that they are identical with William Macarthur’s Erythrina Camdeni and Erythrina Blakei respectively.  Appropriate botanical names would seem to be Erythrina x bidwillii Lindl. ‘Camdeni’ and Erythrina x bidwillii Lindl. ‘Blakei’.  In Melbourne ‘Camdeni’ conforms more to the growth habit of the E. crista-galli parent in that it grows into a tree, to 6m or more under suitable conditions.  The flower shoots are green rather than the purple of ‘Blakei’.  The flowers are a brilliant intense red colour, approaching more to scarlet in ‘Camdeni’ rather than the rich vermillion of ‘Blakei’, much brighter than either parent, equally striking in bud and with the large standard expanded.  The flowers are longer, narrower and straighter than 'Blakei' and tend to drop before opening fully.  Our observations to date are that ‘Camdeni’ produces fewer flowers than ‘Blakei’ and spot flowers rather than producing a spectacular show in spring, as does ‘Blakei’.  [RHSE, personal observations]. 

‘Camdeni’ has only recently been re-introduced to Camden Park but has so far been reasonably winter hardy, subject to frosting of tender growth, although it must be stated that the single winter that our young plants have withstood was very mild with only 2 or 3 very light frosts.  We expect it to be similar to its sibling Erythrina x bidwillii Lindl. var. ‘Blakei’ and William Macarthur’s comments to Conrad Loddiges seem to confirm this.  Macarthur sent plants on 16th April 1846 and wrote: ‘The varieties of Erythrina are both well worth cultivating and are about as hardy as E. cristagalli from which they are derived by crossing.  Their flowers although somewhat smaller are of much more brilliant colour.’  [MP A2933-1, 147].   In ‘Blakei’ the unripe growth is quite frost tender and shoots die back in winter to the harder, ripened wood.  In frost-free conditions semi-ripened wood will survive the winter.  It does vary in leaf, those of ‘Camdeni’ being larger and broader and relatively flattened from tip to apex.

Escallonia claussenii Miq.

The only description I have found to date is in Latin in the Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, August Wilhelm Eichler, and Ignatz Urban, vol.14, part 2, p.134/1840-1906.

Escallonia laevis (Vell.) Sleum.

Frost hardy, evergreen shrub with large, lustrous leaves, often red-margined, aromatic when bruised, and short, dense, terminal panicles of large, to 15mm across, rosy-red flowers in summer.  To 2m.  [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].