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Plant Guide

Cercis canadensis L.
eastern redbud
CECA4

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 

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