Aloe Coral Tree

livingstoniana: named after the legendary Scottish explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873)

Medium to large tree. Bark conspicuously reddish-brown, fissured, set with hard thorny knobs; branches very spiny. Leaves 3-foliolate with leaflets almost as broad as long, more or less 3-lobed; terminal lobe triangular; sidelobes almost square. Flowers in very striking terminal racemes, resembling the inflorescences of Aloe spp., scarlet-red. Fruit a cylindric, woody pod, strongly constricted between the seeds. Seeds bright red with a white spot. The flowers of this species are larger and more spectacular than any other Erythrina species in the region.

Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe.