Cercis canadensis
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''Cercis canadensis'', the eastern redbud, is a large
deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...
shrub or small
tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
,
native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...
to eastern North America from southern Michigan south to central Mexico, east to New Jersey. Species thrive as far west as California and as far north as southern Ontario, roughly corresponding to
USDA hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...
6b. It is the state tree of
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
.


Description

The eastern redbud typically grows to tall with an spread. It generally has a short, often twisted trunk and spreading branches. A 10-year-old tree will generally be around tall. The bark is dark in color, smooth, later scaly with ridges somewhat apparent, sometimes with maroon patches. The twigs are slender and zigzag, nearly black in color, spotted with lighter lenticels. The winter buds are tiny, rounded and dark red to chestnut in color. The leaves are alternate, simple, and heart shaped with an entire margin, long and wide, thin and papery, and may be slightly hairy below. The flowers are showy, light to dark magenta pink in color, long, appearing in clusters from spring to early summer, on bare stems before the leaves, sometimes on the trunk itself. There are cultivars with white flowers. The flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bees such as blueberry bees and
carpenter bees Carpenter bees are species in the genus ''Xylocopa'' of the subfamily Xylocopinae. The genus includes some 500 bees in 31 subgenera. The common name "carpenter bee" derives from their nesting behavior; nearly all species burrow into hard plant m ...
. Short-tongued bees cannot reach the
nectaries Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualist ...
. The fruit are flattened, dry, brown, pea-like pods, long that contain flat, elliptical, brown seeds long, maturing in August to October. * Bark: Red brown, with deep fissures and scaly surface. Branchlets at first lustrous brown, later become darker. * Wood: Dark reddish brown; heavy, hard, coarse-grained, not strong. Sp. gr., 0.6363; weight of cu. ft. 39.65 lbs. * Winter buds: Chestnut brown, obtuse, one-eighth inch long. * Cotyledons oval, flat * Leaves: Alternate, simple, heart-shaped or broadly ovate, two to five inches long, five to seven-nerved, cordate or truncate at the base, entire, acute. They come out of the bud folded along the line of the midrib, tawny green; when they are full grown they become smooth, dark green above, paler beneath. In autumn they turn bright clear yellow. Petioles slender, terete, enlarged at the base. Stipules caducous. * Flowers: April, May, before and with the leaves,
papilionaceous Papilionaceous flowers (from Latin: ''papilion'', a butterfly) are flowers with the characteristic irregular and butterfly-like corolla found in many, though not all, plants of the species-rich Faboideae subfamily of legumes. Tournefort suggest ...
. Perfect, rose color, borne four to eight together, in fascicles which appear at the axils of the leaves or along the branch and sometimes on the trunk itself. * Calyx: Dark red,
campanulate This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...
, oblique, five-toothed,
imbricate Aestivation or estivation is the positional arrangement of the parts of a flower within a flower bud before it has opened. Aestivation is also sometimes referred to as praefoliation or prefoliation, but these terms may also mean vernation: the ar ...
in bud. * Corolla: Papilionaceous, petals five, nearly equal, pink or rose color, upper petal the smallest, enclosed in the bud by the wings, and encircled by the broader keel petals. * Stamens: Ten, inserted in two rows on a thin disk, free, the inner row rather shorter than the others. * Pistil: Ovary superior, inserted obliquely in the bottom of the calyx tube, stipitate; style fleshy, incurved, tipped with an obtuse stigma. * Fruit: Legume, slightly stipitate, unequally oblong, acute at each end. Compressed, tipped with the remnants of the style, straight on upper and curved on the lower edge. Two and a half to three inches long, rose color, full grown by midsummer, falls in early winter. Seeds ten to twelve, chestnut brown, one-fourth of an inch long.


Ecological benefits

The leaves are eaten by the
caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
s of some
Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...
—for example, Henry's elfin, the redbud leaffolder, the red-humped caterpillar (which can cause extensive defoliation in late summer but generally does no lasting harm to a healthy tree), the
fall webworm The fall webworm (''Hyphantria cunea'') is a moth in the family Erebidae known principally for its larval stage, which creates the characteristic webbed nests on the tree limbs of a wide variety of hardwoods in the late summer and fall. It is con ...
(also a late-season defoliator), the white flannel moth, the American dagger moth, the grape leaffolder, and the Io moth.


Cultivation

''Cercis canadensis'' is grown in parks and gardens, with several
cultivars A cultivar is a type of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and when Plant propagation, propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and st ...
being available. The cultivars 'Forest Pansy' and 'Ruby Falls' have gained the
Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...
's
Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...
(confirmed 2017). Both are cultivated for their showy purple leaves, which turn brilliant shades of red and orange in the fall (autumn). 'Ruby Falls' is a weeping form. In the wild, eastern redbud is a frequent native understory tree in mixed forests and hedgerows. It is also much planted as a
landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...
. In the United States, this tree is difficult to grow farther west into arid areas west of western
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
and
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
, as there is not enough rain. There has been success growing the tree in
Columbus, Wisconsin Columbus is a city in Columbia (mostly) and Dodge Counties in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 5,540 at the 2020 census. All of this population resided in the Columbia County portion of the city. Columbu ...
, whose cultivar has become known as the "Columbus strain" and is a seed source for nurseries. Seeds can be made to germinate by first dipping in boiled (99 °C) water for one minute and then sowing in a pot (do not boil the seeds).


Uses

The flowers can be eaten fresh or fried. In some parts of southern
Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...
, green twigs from the eastern redbud are used as seasoning for wild game such as
venison Venison originally meant the meat of a game animal but now refers primarily to the meat of antlered ungulates such as elk or deer (or antelope in South Africa). Venison can be used to refer to any part of the animal, so long as it is edible, ...
and
opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North ...
. Because of this, in these mountain areas the eastern redbud is sometimes known as the spicewood tree. Native Americans consumed redbud flowers raw or boiled, and ate roasted seeds. Analysis of nutritional components in edible parts of eastern redbud reported that the flower extract contains
anthocyanins Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical com ...
, green developing seeds contained
proanthocyanidin Proanthocyanidins are a class of polyphenols found in many plants, such as cranberry, blueberry, and grape seeds. Chemically, they are oligomeric flavonoids. Many are oligomers of catechin and epicatechin and their gallic acid esters. More complex ...
, and linolenic, α-linolenic, oleic and palmitic acids are present in seeds.Laura J. Hunter, et al. 2006. Analysis of nutritional components in edible parts of eastern redbud (''Cercis canadensis'' L.). 62nd Southwest Regional American Chemical Society Meeting, Houston, Texas.
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References


External links



Large format diagnostic photographs and information.
Morton Arboretum tree general description and a list of cultivars
* ttp://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CECA4 NCRS: USDA Plants Profile: ''Cercis canadensis'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q2452407 canadensis Edible nuts and seeds Trees of the United States Trees of Canada Trees of the Eastern United States Trees of the Plains-Midwest (United States) Trees of the South-Central United States Trees of Ontario Trees of the Southern United States Trees of Northeastern Mexico Trees of Colima Trees of Hidalgo (state) Trees of Nuevo León Trees of San Luis Potosí Trees of Tamaulipas Trees of the Southeastern United States Trees of humid continental climate Ornamental trees Garden plants of North America Least concern plants Plants used in Native American cuisine Trees of the Northeastern United States Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Trees of the Great Lakes region (North America)