coral tree

American  

noun

1. any of various tropical shrubs or trees of the genus Erythrina, of the legume family, having large clusters of pealike flowers.

---

coral tree British  

noun

1. any of various thorny, tropical trees of the leguminous genus Erythrina, having bright red flowers and reddish shiny seeds

---

Etymology

Origin of coral tree

First recorded in 1625–35

Example Sentences

A concrete Buddha used to gaze toward the horizon from its perch beneath a coral tree.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2025

First come the plants: the Baishan fir and the Qiaojia pine, the coral tree and the suicide palm.

From New York Times • Mar. 29, 2023

He’s on the phone from his home in Beverly Hills, where he keeps a sunny office above the garage with a distant view of the ocean through a big coral tree.

From Washington Post • Mar. 13, 2017

A scuba diver hovers above a black coral tree bursting with cardinal fish.

From National Geographic • Nov. 16, 2015

The late-aftemoon downpour sends the students’ mothers scurrying under the coral tree in the yard of the Nikolai Lenin Elementary School.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García