Erythrina: Coral Bean
From the Greek erythros, meaning red;
flowers and seeds are red in most species
These strikingly beautiful plants are in bloom this month and though their numbers are now few in Florida they are sticking out from the drought-parched landscape with bright red flowers and green-bean-like fruit which will become just as red as the flowers if they survive to ripen. Largely forgotten or ignored today, the plants are historically important to Florida and other areas in their range. They are also important to ecologists because of all their evolutionary adaptations. First their striking red color is a warning to many predators, same thing for their red seed. Second, they are wicked thorny. Even brushing up against these plants can leave you bloodied. Third, they are chock full of chemicals (more on that below).
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I set out on a mission to find as many of these plants as I could to photograph as they are rapidly disappearing in Florida. I was able to find 6 individuals in a variety of habitats around Central Florida that are pictured here. They ranged from the Kissimmee River Prairie in the south to Gemini Springs in the north and Highland Hammocks in the west. Sadly, I only found 6 plants. Each located far from any others. I collected seeds from around the plants and will attempt to grow a few new Coral Bean Trees.
When Linnaeus created the genus Erythrina in 1753, he knew three American species. Now there are 112 species known, with 12 species in Asia, 32 in Africa, and almost 70 in the Americas. Neither Linnaeus nor his predecessors, who had studied these plants in the American wilds, had any idea that they were as important in American cultures as they were. Nor could they have guessed the research that would go into studying the chemicals in them from the 1930s into the early 1970s.
The research push during World War II began with studies done by Boris Krukoff, one of the few botanists in history to become wealthy. During his study of curare, Krukoff found that Erythrina was one of its sources. Then it was discovered that the seeds of some Erythrina contain alkaloids with a curare-like action. Since curare was an important muscle relaxant during surgery, another source was considered potentially useful. Finally, it was learned that chemicals in Erythrina (erythroidine, erysodine) have tertiary bases, not quaternary bases like curare alkaloids, and that they were not as useful as some had hoped.
Further research revealed that Erythrina contains many potent chemicals, including more than 30 different alkaloids. The Florida species, Erythrina herbaceae, containes erysopine, erysothiopine, erysothiovine, erysovine, erythrinine, erythroresin, the emetic coralin, erythric acid, and hypaphorine.
In the Southeast USA, E. herbacea is known by a number of different colloquial names including cardinal spear, Cherokee bean, coral bean (plant, tree), and red-cardinal flower. Several other names applied to it elsewhere reflect the red color, including alabarda de cardenal (cardinal's saddle, Spain), colorín (color of life, Tamaulipas to Oaxaca, Mexico), corolillo (little red one), imortelle (immortal), and Korallenstrauch (coral bush, German). Louisiana is the exception in the USA, where the plants are called cry baby tree and mamou (mamma) because the nectar is so abundant the trees "weep."
Erythrina herbacea is sometimes called the eastern coral bean to distinguish it from E. flabelligormis, the western coral bean. The southeastern species ranges from the coastal Carolinas to Florida, west to Texas and Arkansas, then in Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Chiapas. Erythrina flabelliformis grows from Arizona and New Mexico south through Baja, Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, Jalisco, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, Pueblo, and Morelos. Erythrina americana, a third species in Erythrina ranges in Mexico from Veracruz to Hidalgo, Distrito Federal, Puebla, Chiapas, and Yucatán. Common names of the tree are so intertwined that people may not distinguish among them.
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In Mexico these species have long been intimately tied to daily and religious life. The young flowers are eaten cooked like string beans. The most common preparation is breakfast cooked with eggs. The flowers are considered pectoral, and the roots sudorific and diaphoretic. Leaves are emmenagogue, and a decoction of the flowers is used to treat pulmonary disorders. Juice from the stem is used to treat scorpion stings. The wood is soft and light, and is used for corks, carvings of saints, masks, and similar items. The bar, in addition to giving a yellow dye, is astringent, and it has been used to reduce fever, relieve dysentery (bloody diarrhea), and treat eye inflammation.
Mexicans call the seeds either colorín, patrol (from Náhuatl patolli, banner), or sometimes patrol colorín (red banner, Tamaulipas). Seeds are, or at least were, used in a game resembling dice called patol. The Maya name for the seeds was tze-te (poison), and the plants are discussed in the Popul Vuh, a text that recounts the origins of those people. The name tze-te is usually equated with the Spanish name árbol de pito. The Zapotec called these seeds bi-chilla (lucky fruit) or bzaa tutze (bean poison). Their red color was synonymous with toxicity among the ancient and modern Zapotecs. It was these red beans and the game patol that the Zapotecs and presumably the Maya and Aztecs used to predict the future.
In the Southeastern USA it is thought that the seeds of E. herbacea were once an item of commerce among Native Americans. The plant was used among Florida natives to treat "Horse Sickness," "Deer Sickness," and "Dog Sickness." The horse was a historical addition to the animals in the Americas, so the other two illnesses must be more ancient. One of the ingredients in the remedy for Horse Sickness was ground Erythrina seeds, either dried or green. At times, scrapings from the roots were dried and powdered as a substitute. This powder was added to some material from other plants, made into a decoction, and ingested. Variations were made for Deer and Dog Sickness.
In spite of Alice Micco Snow's obvious extensive knowledge of plants used by the Seminoles, Erythrina is not among those she listed in her seminal book with SE Stans, "Healing Plants. Medicine of the Florida Seminole Indians," University of Florida Press, 2001. That absence may reflect shifting knowledge. In addition to Erythrina's medicinal and societal uses they were also important plants in a religious context in the past, but they have now become either unimportant or relegated to food or some other secular application.
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Workout 1
THE WARMUP
Treadmill - 10 min at 5.0 speed.
Pullups
Sets: 3
Reps: 5
Pushup
Sets: 3
Reps: 10
Squat
Sets: 3
Reps: 15
THE WORKOUT
Lat pulldowns
Sets: 6
Reps: 140lbsx20, 150lbsx15, 185lbsx15, 15, 12, 12
Dumbell rows
Sets: 5
Reps: 80lbsx20, 90lbsx15, 100lbsx12, 12, 12
Barbell curls
Sets: 75lbsx15, 15, 15, 15, 15, 65lbsx10 (5 push ups after each set)
Dumbbell concentration curls
Sets: 3
Reps: 25lbsx10, 10, 9
Ab Circuit
Situps
Crunches
Side Crunches
Workout 2
Five rounds
800-meter run
15 cleans (95lbs)
10 bench press (205 lbs)
5 box jumps (30" box)
Overall Progress
In 5 Months:
Maximum Pull Ups went from 7 to 30
Maximum Deadlift went from 225 to 315
Mile run time went from 8:30 to 5:50
We're so accustomed to seeing Chris Pratt as a bona-fide action star, it's almost tough to remember he first came to fame as a chubby goofball. Before he was a motorcycle-riding velociraptor trainer in Jurassic World, and before he was a universe-saving superhero in Guardians of the Galaxy—both epic summer blockbusters, by the way—Pratt was Andy Dwyer, the marshmallowy man-boy who fell into a pit on Parks and Recreation.
So what changed? Pratt got shredded. For his star (and star-making) turn as Peter Quill, Pratt dropped more than 60 pounds in six months. He combined a carefully calculated diet plan from nutritionist Phil Goglia, an intense training regimen designed by personal trainer Duffy Gaver, and sheer hard work, he chiseled out a ripped physique you see in the selfie that lit up the Internet.
Gaver trained Pratt for five months, starting with 4-6 sessions a week in February 2013. Pratt would even do extra workouts on his own if he felt up to it.
"Chris' athleticism is amazing. He is incredibly disciplined and his work ethic is phenomenal," says Gaver. "He isn’t the client you have to push; he's the type of client you have to pull down. If you were to walk into the gym when he was training, you would have thought for sure you’ve got a guy getting ready for the NFL Combine."
Gaver says the first two months were bodybuilding-type workouts, the next two months were equal parts bodybuilding and conditioning, and the last month was mainly conditioning consisting of cardio circuits, swimming, mountain biking, and faster timed sessions. The conditioning workouts often contained a treadmill/rower circuit mixed in with weight lifting or calisthenics. In terms of goals, Pratt had knew exactly how he wanted to look.
"He wanted more muscle, to be much leaner, and to be more fit," says Gaver. "He wanted to do justice to the role."
Check out how Pratt got in otherworldly shape with these upper body and conditioning workouts—and for more on Pratt and his journey to becoming Star-Lord, read the cover story in the July/August issue of MEN'S FITNESS.
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