Red-hot-poker tree is indigenous to Sudan and Ethiopia . Found in savannah woodland, grassland and scrub. It occurs in all Districts in Uganda and grows well in most climates but not in dry or high areas. In Kampala, Red-hot-poker tree can be found within Sheraton gardens, Kitante courts, Golf course club among other areas.

A deciduous tree with a short trunk and thick spreading branches, rounded crown, 6-12 m.

BARK: deeply grooved, brown, thick and corky, with or without woody spines.

LEAVES: compound with 3- leaflets, largest leaflet rounded to 15 cm; branchlets and underleaves covered with grey-brown hairs, veins and stalks sometimes prickly.

FLOWERS: orange-red heads, often appearing on the bare tree. Both narrow calyx lobes and petals are coloured, each flower to 5 cm long.

FRUIT: woody pods, 4-16 cm long, hairy, strongly narrowed between seeds, opening to set free 1-10 shiny red seeds with a grey-black patch.

An ornamental tree

Medicine: bark, bark sap, roots, flowers, leaves, fruit. http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php id=Erythrina+abyssinica, https://www.prota4u.org/database/protav8.asp g=pe&p=Erythrina+abyssinica+Lam.+ex+DC.

In veteninary medicine, leaves are applied to treat skin diseases in cattle.

Agroforestry: can be grown as a 'living fence' from truncheons, used as a live fence around homesteads, fix atmospheric nitrogen, leaves are used as a mulch, used in soil conservation programmes, for erosion control, and for use as green manure, planted shade tree for coffee, planted on stream banks and terraces to conserve the soil, provides bee forage.

The seeds are locally popular for making curios and necklaces.

The bark is sometimes used as a brown dye for textiles. A red dye is obtained from the sap.

Cork from the bark is used as floats for fishing nets.

The tree exudes a brown, gummy sap.

The wood is used for making carvings, stools, drums, mortars, beehives, tool handles, brake blocks and floats for fishing nets, and sometimes also in house construction. The wood from the roots is used for making walking sticks.

The wood serves as firewood.