View source for Cercis canadensis

{{SPlantbox
|genus=Cercis
|species=canadensis
|common_name=Eastern Redbud
|name_ref=Complete Landscaping - ISBN 9780376009272
|habit=tree
|habit_ref=Complete Landscaping - ISBN 9780376009272
|Min ht box=25
|Min ht metric=ft
|Max ht box=35
|Max ht metric=ft
|height_ref=Complete Landscaping - ISBN 9780376009272
|lifespan=perennial
|life_ref=Complete Landscaping - ISBN 9780376009272
|exposure=sun
|sun_ref=Complete Landscaping - ISBN 9780376009272
|water=moist
|water_ref=Complete Landscaping - ISBN 9780376009272
|features=deciduous, flowers, fall color
|flower_season=early spring
|flower_ref=Complete Landscaping - ISBN 9780376009272
|flowers=pink, white
|Temp Metric=°F
|min_zone=5
|usda_ref=Complete Landscaping - ISBN 9780376009272
|max_zone=9.5
|image=Eastern Redbud.png
|image_width=200
}}
'''''Cercis canadensis''''' [[Carolus Linnaeus|L.]] ('''Eastern Redbud''') is a large [[shrub]] or small tree native to [[Eastern United States|eastern]] North America from [[Southern Ontario]], Canada south to northern [[Florida]], United States.

t typically grows to 6–9 m (20–30 feet) tall with a 8–10 m (25–35 foot) spread.  It generally has a short, often twisted [[trunk (botany)|trunk]] and spreading [[branch]]es. A 10-year-old tree will generally be around 5 m (15 ft) tall.  The [[bark]] is dark in color, smooth, later scaly with ridges somewhat apparent, sometimes with maroon patches. The [[twig]]s are slender and zigzag, nearly black in color, spotted with lighter [[lenticel]]s. The winter buds are tiny, rounded and dark red to chestnut in color. The [[leaf|leaves]] are alternate, simple, heart shaped with an entire margin, 7–12 cm (3-5 inches) long and wide, thin and papery, and may be slightly hairy below. 

The [[flower]]s are showy, light to dark magenta pink in color, 1.5 cm (½ inch) long, appearing in clusters from March to May, on bare stems before the leaves, sometimes on the trunk itself. The flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bees such as blueberry bees and carpenter bees. Short-tongued bees apparently cannot reach the nectaries. The [[fruit]] are flattened, dry, brown, [[pea]]-like pods, 5–10 cm (2-4 inches) long that contain flat, elliptical, brown [[seed]]s 6 mm (¼ inch) long, maturing in August to October. 

A small tree with a sturdy upright trunk which divides into stout branches that usually spread to form a broad flat head. Found on rich bottom lands throughout the [[Mississippi River]] valley; will grow in the shade and often becomes a dense undergrowth in the forest.  Very abundant in [[Arkansas]], [[Oklahoma]], and eastern [[Texas]].  Hardy far north; grows rapidly; is a satisfactory ornamental tree.  Many trees are sterile and produce no fruit.  It is also known as the '''Judas tree'''.

This tree is difficult to grow as far west as western [[Kansas]] and [[Colorado]], as there is not sufficient water.  Its far northern range of growth is southern [[New England]].  It grows well in [[New York]] State, [[New Jersey]] and southward.

* 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.
* Leaves: Alternate, simple, heart-shaped or broadly ovate, two to five inches long, five to seven-nerved, chordate 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 caduceous.
* Flowers: April, May, before and with the leaves, papilionaceous. 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, oblique, five-toothed, imbricate 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 -can be made to germinate by first dipping in boiled (99C) water (very hot) for a minute and then sowing in a pot (don't boil the seeds); cotyledons oval, flat.<ref name=Keeler>{{cite book| last =Keeler| first =Harriet L.| title =Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them| publisher =Charles Scriber's Sons| year =1900| location =New York| pages =104–108}}</ref>

{{Inc|
Cercis canadensis, Linn. Tree, to 40 ft.: lvs. roundish or broadly ovate, usually cordate, 3-5 in. long: fls. rosy pink, ½in long, 4-8 in clusters: pod 2½-3½ in. long. From N. J. south, west to Mo. and Texas. —A very desirable ornamental tree for the northern states. Var. alba, Rehd. Fls. white. Var. plena, Schneid. Fls. double.
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