"Growing Online"tm

 

 

   

Summary
Duration	Perennial
Growth Habit	Tree, Shrub
U.S. Nativity	Native to U.S.
Federal T/E Status
National Wetland Indicator	UPL, FACU
Morphology/Physiology
Active Growth Period	Spring and Summer
After Harvest Regrowth Rate
Bloat
C:N Ratio	Medium
Coppice Potential	No
Fall Conspicuous	No
Fire Resistant	No
Flower Color	Purple
Flower Conspicuous	Yes
Foliage Color	Green
Foliage Porosity Summer	Moderate
Foliage Porosity Winter	Porous
Foliage Texture	Coarse
Fruit/Seed Color	Black
Fruit/Seed Conspicuous	Yes
Growth Form	Single Stem
Growth Rate	Slow
Height at 20 Years, Maximum (feet)	16
Height, Mature (feet)	16
Known Allelopath	No
Leaf Retention	No
Lifespan	Short
Low Growing Grass	No
Nitrogen Fixation	Low
Resprout Ability	No
Shape and Orientation	Erect
Toxicity	None
Growth Requirements
Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils	Yes
Adapted to Fine Textured Soils	No
Adapted to Medium Textured Soils	Yes
Anaerobic Tolerance	None
CaCO3 Tolerance	Low
Cold Stratification Required	Yes
Drought Tolerance	High
Fertility Requirement	Low
Fire Tolerance	Low
Frost Free Days, Minimum	130
Hedge Tolerance	None
Moisture Use	Low
pH, Minimum	4.5
pH, Maximum	7.5
Planting Density per Acre, Minimum	300
Planting Density per Acre, Maximum	1200
Precipitation, Minimum	28
Precipitation, Maximum	60
Root Depth, Minimum (inches)	24
Salinity Tolerance	None
Shade Tolerance	Tolerant
Temperature, Minimum (°F)	-23
Reproduction
Bloom Period	Spring
Commercial Availability	Routinely Available
Fruit/Seed Abundance	Medium
Fruit/Seed Period Begin	Spring
Fruit/Seed Period End	Summer
Fruit/Seed Persistence	Yes
Propagated by Bare Root	Yes
Propagated by Bulb	No
Propagated by Container	Yes
Propagated by Corm	No
Propagated by Cuttings	No
Propagated by Seed	Yes
Propagated by Sod	No
Propagated by Sprigs	No
Propagated by Tubers	No
Seed per Pound	18000
Seed Spread Rate	Moderate
Seedling Vigor	Medium
Small Grain	No
Vegetative Spread Rate	None
Suitability/Use
Berry/Nut/Seed Product	No
Christmas Tree Product	No
Fodder Product	No
Fuelwood Product	None
Lumber Product	No
Naval Store Product	No
Nursery Stock Product	Yes
Palatable Browse Animal	Low
Palatable Graze Animal	Low
Palatable Human	No
Post Product	No
Protein Potential	Low
Pulpwood Product	No
Veneer Product	No

 

Kingdom  Plantae -- Plants

Subkingdom  Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants

Superdivision  Spermatophyta -- Seed plants

Division  Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants

Class  Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons

Subclass  Rosidae

Order  Fabales

Family  Fabaceae -- Pea family

Genus  Cercis L. -- redbud P

Species  Cercis canadensis L. -- eastern redbud P

 

Alternate names

Redbud, Judas tree; this species has several varieties recognized in the U.S.: Cercis canadensis var. canadensis, Cercis canadensis var mexicana, and Cercis canadensis var. texensis.

 

Uses

Ethnobotanic: The Alabama, Cherokee, Delaware, Kiowa, and Oklahoma were among the Native American tribes that used eastern redbud for various purposes.  The bark was made into a tea to treat whooping cough.  Taking cold infusions of the roots and inner bark treated fevers and congestion.  An infusion of the bark was used to treat vomiting and fever.  During winters, the plants were used for firewood.  Because it is one of the first plants to flower in the spring, the blossoming branches were brought into the homes to “drive winter out.”  Children were “fond of eating the blossoms” of eastern redbud. 

 

Wildlife/Livestock: Many birds, including bobwhite quails, eat the seeds.  White-tailed deer are among the animals that browse the foliage.  Honeybees visit the blossoms.  Livestock will browse on Eastern redbud.

 

Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status (e.g. threatened or endangered species, state noxious status, and wetland indicator values).

 

Description

General: Legume Family (Fabaceae).  Eastern redbud is a native, perennial, deciduous tree or shrub.  The plants may vary in form from dense and round (to 6 m tall) when grown in sun, to an open, taller form (to 12 m tall) when grown in the shade.  The trees produce hundreds of small pink pea flowers in the very early spring, even before other trees have leafed out.  The bright magenta-pink to lilac flowers, appear in small clusters, primarily on older stems.  The flowers are irregular, 9 to 12 cm long, with ten stamens.  The unique, broadly heart-shaped leaves are nearly circular (5 to 10 cm), with a long, slender petiole.  The leaves are alternate and have 5 to 9 prominent veins that radiate palmately from the base.  New leaves are a light green that darken with age and finally turn yellow in the fall.  The seeds are contained in a flat, thin pod (4 to 10 cm long), which turns from green to brown.

 

Distribution: Eastern redbud is native to the eastern and south-central United States, southward to Texas.  For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

 

Habitat: Eastern redbud occurs in the forest understory in moist rich woods, along the banks of streams, in ravines, on bluffs, in open rocky woods, and abandoned farmlands.

 

Establishment

Eastern redbud is widely cultivated as an ornamental because of the plants showy springtime flowers and beautiful heart-shaped leaves.  The plants are graceful with arching branches that look lovely as a specimen tree, in groupings, and in shrub borders.  The plants do well in soils of moderate to low fertility and are very drought resistant.  The seeds have very hard seed coats that require both chilling and scarification for germination, unless planted in the fall.  Cuttings are difficult to root.  Mature plants do not transplant well so buy young plants that are balled-and-burlapped or container grown.  Transplant the plants in the spring or fall, in well-drained soils in sun to part shade.  Water the plants regularly until established. 

 

Management

These plants require very little maintenance.  The brown seedpods, which can cling to the branches until late in the year, can be somewhat unattractive.

 

Pests and Potential Problems

Eastern redbud has relatively few pests.  Stem canker, leaf spots, and verticillium wilt may be a problem.  The plants may experience some insect damage from leaf rollers, treehoppers, scales, leafhoppers, aphids, and spider mites, but damage is rarely severe. 

 

Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

These plant materials are readily available from commercial sources.  Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service) office for more information.  Look in the phone book under ”United States Government.”  The Natural Resources Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading “Department of Agriculture.”

 

References

Bailey, L.H. & E.Z. Bailey 1976.  Hortus Third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. Simon and Schuster Macmillan Co., New York, New York.  1290 pp.

 

Dirr, M.A. 1997.  Dirr’s hardy trees and shrubs: an illustrated encyclopedia.  Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.  493 pp.

 

Dirr, M.A. 1998.  Manual of woody landscape plants. Fifth Edition.  Stipes Publishing, Champaign, Illinois.  1187 pp.

 

Flint, H.L. 1997.  Landscape plants for Eastern North America.  Second Edition.  John Wiley and Sons, New York, New York.  842 pp.

 

Greene, W.F. & H.L. Blomquist 1953.  Flowers of the South: Native and exotic.  University of North Carolina Press. Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  208 pp.

 

Halfacre, R.G. & A.R. Showcroft 1979.  Landscape plants of the Southeast.  Sparks Press, Raleigh, North Carolina.  325 pp.

 

Hamel, P.B. & M.U. Chiltoskey 1975.  Cherokee plants and their uses: A 400-year history.  Herald Publishing Company, Sylva, North Carolina.  65 pp.

 

Isley, D. 1990.  Vascular flora of the Southeastern United States, Volume 3, Part 2, Leguminosae (Fabaceae).  University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  258 pp.

 

Moerman, D.E. 1998.  Native American ethnobotany. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.  927 pp.

 

Moerman, D.E. 1999.  Native American Ethnobotany Database: Foods, drugs, dyes and fibers of native North American Peoples.  The University of Michigan-Dearborn.  [Online].  Available:

https://www.umd.umich.edu/cgi-bin/herb

(27 June 2001).

 

Ottensen, C. 1995.  The native plant primer.  Harmony Books, New York, New York.  354 pp.

 

Rogers, D.J. & C. Rogers 1991.  Woody ornamentals for Deep South gardens. University of West Florida Press, Pensacola, Florida.  296 pp.

 

Small, J.K. 1933.  Manual of Southeastern flora.  University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  1554 pp.

 

Swanson, R.E. 1994.  A field guide to the trees and shrubs of the Southern Appalachians.  John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.  399 pp.

 

Swanton, J.R. 2000.  Creek religion and medicine.  University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska.  684 pp.

 

Taylor, L.A. 1940.  Plants used as curatives by certain Southeastern tribes. Botanical Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

88 pp.

 

Whitthoft, J. 1947.  An early Cherokee ethnobotanical note (Communicated by W.N. Fenton).  Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 37(3): 73-75.

 

Young, J.A. & C.G. Young 1992.  Seeds of woody plants in North America.  Dioscorides Press, Portland, Oregon.  407 pp. 

 

Prepared By

Diana L. Immel

Formerly USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, c/o Environmental Horticulture Department, University of California, Davis, California

 

Species Coordinator

M. Kat Anderson

USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center, c/o Plant Science Department, University of California, Davis, California

 

Edited: 27sep01 jsp;  01may03 ahv; 01jun06 jsp

 

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS Web site<https://plants.usda.gov> or the Plant Materials Program Web site <https://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov>

 

 

 

Attribution:  U.S. Department of Agriculture