While generally considered intolerant of frosts, two species, E. herbacea and E. flabelliformis, extend into the southern United States where they exist as herbaceous perennials whose above-ground stems die back each winter. An Asian species, E. aborescens, occurs in Himalayan forests and in the mountains of western China to 3,000 m elevations and is evidently highly tolerant of frosts. Three sections of the subgenus Erythrina endemic to southern Africa, encompassing five species, E. caffra, E. lysistemon, E. humeana, E. zeyheri and E. acanthrocarpa, show some degree of frost tolerance. It is also presumed that the South American species, E. berteroana and E. edulis, which are common at high elevations where frosts generally occur, are also frost tolerant.