Coral Bean

Member of Erythrina Herbacea Family

Blooms: May - June

This plant is very unusual. We found it deep into the woods in late October. It has already bloomed and dropped it's leaves, leaving only the black seed pods which had burst open to show it's scarlet red beans.

It is a beautiful addition to your garden if you can get the seeds to germinate. It took several tries before I got one to come up. The bright red beans , as well as the plant are very poisonous, but make a beautiful plant.

It is also called Cherokee Bean. It is native along the coast and in extreme East Texas. It's genus comes from a Greek word "Erythrina", which signifies the redness which the plant manifests twice each year, one with it's beautiful blooms and in fall with it's bright red beans.

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

Isaiah 1:18