The lightweight wood is weak, not durable, and scarcely suitable for lumber. Reported to have the same medicinal attributes as Erythrina indica, whose bark is used for fever, hepatosis, malaria, rheumatism, toothache, also for boils and fractures. The bark is used for poulticing fresh wounds in Malasia. Boiled roots are taken internally or externally for beri-beri. The root is used for rheumatism.
Seeds contain the alkaloid erythraline.
Apparently it will not tolerate shade. Distribution Mascarene Islands, from Northeastern India to Java, Polynesia and Sri Lanka. Like most Erythrinas, this probably roots readily from large fence-post sized cuttings. Seeds germinate rather rapidly. Harvesting For those risking them as vegetables, the young buds and leaves are probably at their tenderest when leafing out, often in tandem with the commencement of the rainy season.