Erythrina herbacea, commonly known as the Eastern Coralbean, Cherokee Bean, Mamou in South Louisiana, Red Cardinal, or Cardinal Spear is a flowering shrub or small tree found throughout the southeastern United States and northeastern Mexico; elsewhere it may only reach . Stems are covered in curved spines. The leaves are yellowish-green, long and wide. The leaves are divided into three arrowhead-shaped leaflets. The tubular flowers are bright red and grow in long spikes, each flower being long; Toxic alkaloids, including erysopine, erysothiopine, erysothiovine, erysovine, erythrinine, erythroresin, coralin, erythric acid, and hypaphorine, are found throughout the plant. The leaves were found to contain erysotrine and erythrartine. These cause paralysis upon ingestion, much like curare.
Habitat and range
Coral bean grows best in sandy soils and has moderate salt tolerance. It is found in open woods, forest clearings, hammocks, and disturbed areas. In the United States, it ranges from southeastern North Carolina south to Florida and west to southeastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas.
Native American people had many medicinal uses for this plant, varying between nations and localities. Creek women used an infusion of the root for bowel pain; the Choctaw used a decoction of the leaves as a general tonic; the Seminole used an extract of the roots for digestive problems, and extracts of the seeds, or of the inner bark, as an external rub for rheumatic disorders.
In Mexico, the seeds are used as a rat poison, while a fish poison is made from the bark and leaves.