4. Erythrina stricta Roxburgh, Fl. Ind., ed. 1832. 3: 251. 1832.
劲直刺桐 jin zhi ci tong
Trees, 7-12 m tall. Trunk straight. Branches with short whitish prickles. Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; stipules deciduous; petiole 12-15 cm, rarely with prickles; terminal leaflet broadly triangular, almost rhomboid, or broadly reniform-oblate, 7-19 × 7-24.5 cm, both surfaces glabrous, lateral veins 5-8 pairs, base nearly cordate, truncate, or broadly cuneate, margin entire, apex acute or caudate with mucro 10-15 mm. Raceme ca. 15 cm, flowers in clusters of 3 or 4. Calyx spathelike, undivided or apex slightly 2-lobed. Corolla red; standard elliptic-lanceolate or ovate-triangular, erect, 3-4.5 cm, subsessile; wings subobovate, 6-8 mm, shorter than calyx; keels much longer than wings. Ovary hairy, stipitate; style narrow, glabrous. Legume 7-12 × 0.7-1.5 cm, glabrous. Seeds 1-3 or more, light or dark brown, reniform. Fl. Mar-Jul, fr. Apr-Sep. 2n = 42.
Forests by rivers, mountain slopes; ca. 1400 m. Guangxi, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].
