Colorín

Description:

Its white wood is used for making bungs and, especially in San Luis Potosí, figurines. The clusters of red and white flowers on the Naked Coral Tree make it an attractive ornamental. The flowers are also used as a food source. The seeds are very poisonous, and contain erythroidine, a powerful paralyzant of the motor system, erythroresin, an emetic, coralin and erythric acid. The extract has been suggested as a substitute for curare. These seeds are elliptic, smooth, glossy, coral-red, with a salient longitudinal line on the back, and with a white hilum, surrounded with a black border. The analysis by Rio de la Loza showed these seeds to contain 13.35 solid and liquid fat, 0.32 resin soluble in ether, 13.47 resin soluble in alcohol, 1.61 erythrococalloidine, an alkaloid, 5.60 albumen, 0.83 gum, 1.55 sugar, 0.42 organic acid, 15.87 starch, 7.15 moisture and 39.15 inorganic matter.

Habitat:

A species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that ranges from Arizona in the United States south to Oaxaca in Mexico.