The plant that marked the Sinhala New Year from the past was the Erabadu. This is because the flowers of the Erabadu bloom in April month, are very bright and dark red in color, and when the flowers are blooming, the tree is mostly leafless, so they are very visible.
But by now the Erabadu plant has become a rare plant that is found very rarely. Although it was a valuable plant, it was not cultivated by anyone. New populations are not intentionally carried out unless a spontaneously grown tree is cut down or dies. Although most of the Erabadu trees in the humid zone die due to insect infestations that cause slimy stems and nodules on the leaves, this, too does not seem to have received much attention.
The insect that causes the destruction of this plant is a wasp species. This very small wasp species is called Erythrina Gall Wasp (EGW) (Quadrastichus erythrinae). They pierce the smooth leaves and stems of the Erabadu plant and lay their eggs. The larva that emerges from it prepares a spherical lump made of plant tissue and lives inside until it comes out piercing the leaf. It seems that this insect infestation was the main reason for the destruction of Erabadu plants in many places in the humid zone in the past. An example of how bad this can be is the Hawaiian Islands, where 95% of Erabadu plants have been destroyed by these insects. But it seems that proper attention has not been paid to this in Sri Lanka.
The Erabadu plant is a valuable plant with medicinal properties. Its leaves and seeds are used as medicine. Young leaf Sambol ‘Lapati Pathra Malluma’ is especially beneficial in worm diseases and the seeds are used in many eye treatments.
For the past decade or so, the images of the Erabadu flower presented by media are a foreign species known as the Common Coral Tree /Crist’s Tears / Cockspur Coral Tree (Erythrina crysta-galli). Cultivated as an ornamental plant, the flowers of this species should be dark red in color and those flowers grow in long spikes. Also, this species bears flowers throughout the year.
The other species found in Sri Lanka, the ‘Yak-erabdu’ (Erythrina fusca), is even rarer. Apart from this, there are some foreign species introduced to get fertilizer and shade in tea plantations. They can be distinguished by the nature of their inflorescences and flowers.
