Eastern Redbud: Spring's Early Pleasing Pastel of Magenta Pink

Cercis canadensis is commonly known as Eastern redbud. Cercis canadensis is in the family Fabaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the bean family, legume family, pea family, or pulse family. An older family synonym, Leguminosae, recognizes the family’s typical fruit, which are termed legumes or pods.

Eastern redbud is the official tree of the state of Oklahoma. Conservationist Maimee Lee Robinson Browne (March 3, 1881 - June 11, 1963), a transplant born in Pittsburg, northeastern Texas, fell under the spell of her adopted state, especially of its Eastern redbud trees. She led a successful campaign for emblem status for Cercis canadensis as Oklahoma's state tree. On March 30, 1937, Ernest Whitworth Marland (May 8, 1874 – October 3, 1941), Oklahoma's 10th Governor, made the pretty tree's status official by signing Senate Joint Resolution No. 5 during the Sooner State's Sixteenth Legislature (November 24, 1936, to May 11, 1937):

• "WHEREAS, in the beginning of this great commonwealth, when the sturdy and hardy pioneers thereof trekked across its rolling hills and plains, one of the first sights to greet them spread out in a glorious panorama, was the Redbud tree -- a tree, that as it arose in the spring from the verdant fields, was emblematic of the eternal renewal of all life; a tree that in its beauty renewed the worn spirit and gave hope to the tired heart of a people seeking homes in a new land, and;
• WHEREAS, it is the will of the Legislature that the adoption of the Redbud tree as the official State Tree of the State of Oklahoma would be small, but fitting tribute, to the part it played in, and the beauty it has lent to, the lives of the people, of this State,
• Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Senate of the State of Oklahoma and the House of Representatives of the State of Oklahoma:
• That the Redbud tree be adopted and the same is made the official tree of this State."

On June 14, 1971, under the governorship of David Hall (born October 20, 1930) during the 33rd Legislature (January 5, 1971 to January 2, 1973), Eastern redbud's hallowed status was further consolidated by statutory inclusion in the Oklahoma Forestry Code under Title 2, Article 16:

• "The redbud shall be adopted and the same be made the official tree of this state."

Described as a large shrub or a small tree, Eastern redbud gloriously blazes in early spring throughout its native habitat in eastern North America.

• Its native southern extent is in northern Florida, from which point its pleasing pastel hues sweep westwards through Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas, and northwards into the province of Ontario in east central Canada.

U.S.D.A. Hardiness Zones

Classed in U.S.D.A. Hardiness Zones 5 to 9, Cercis canadensis tolerates minimum winter temperatures ranging from -20º to -10º F. (-29º to -23º C.) up to 20º to 30º F. (-7º to -1º C.).

Eastern redbud flowers are striking (showy) in their pink or magenta clusters of four to eight, profusely arrayed throughout the tree, on old branches, young branches, and even the trunk. Eastern redbuds love to bloom as they produce a plethora of flowers even at a young age.

Flowers emerge ahead of the tree’s foliage.

Leaf shape is simple, so their endearing heart-shaped outline does not have the indented lobes, for example, of oak leaves. Their width and length tend to range from three to five inches (7.6 to 12.7 centimeters). Five to nine conspicuous veins are palmate (Latin: palmatus “hand-shaped”), meaning that they radiate from one point, the base. Another prominent feature of the leaves is their long, slender petiole (Latin: petiolus “little foot,” diminutive of pes “foot”), the small stalk which attaches the leaf blade (lamina, from Latin for “thin sheet of metal”) to the stem (leaf axil).

Leaf arrangement on the stem, phyllotaxis (Greek: phýllon "leaf” + táxis "arrangement"), is alternate, meaning leaves are attached singly and alternate sides, in a zigzag growth pattern, as they emerge along the stem.

When first budding, leaves are bright green with red tinges. By maturity their color is dark green.

As a deciduous tree, Eastern redbud sheds its leaves seasonally in a process called abscission (Latin: ab “away” + scindere “to cut”). Their autumn color, signalling abscission, is yellow green. Sometimes their autumn foliage takes on a striking, bright yellow color.

Bark generally ranges from red brown to dark brown in color. Older branches present dark brown or grey scaly plates under which orange inner bark is revealed by light exfoliation.

With a maximum height of 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters), Eastern redbud is an understory, a small tree that easily grows in the shade of taller trees below the forest canopy (the topmost area of the forest habitat as delineated by the crowns of the tallest trees).

The leafy, spreading branches of the Eastern redbud trace an outline that is broad with a flat-topped crown. The trunk divides into large branches at a close distance to the ground.

Its branches, spreading outward to a full width of 25 to 35 feet (7.6 to 10.6 meters), often make its width exceed its height.

Wildlife find Eastern redbud to be edible and browsable.

• In spring and summer white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) graze on Eastern redbud foliage and twigs.
• Bark, buds, and seeds are infrequently consumed by squirrels (family Sciuridae).
• Seeds are eaten by bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus).

Eastern redbud nectaries (glandlike organs secreting nectar, the sugar-rich liquid source for honey) elude short-tongued bees, such as those in the genera of Andrena, Colletes (plasterer bees), Halictus, Macropis, and Prosopis in North America. Instead, Eastern redbud trees enlist long-tongued bees, such as the carpenter bee (genus Xylocopa), as their pollinators.

Caterpillars of the Io moth (Automeris io) feed on Eastern redbud leaves.

The bark was boiled by such Native American tribes as the Alabama, Cherokee, Delaware, Kiowa, and Oklahoma for the treatment of whooping cough.

Native Americans also prepared an astringent (Latin: astringere, from ad “to” + stringere “draw tight”) from the bark for treating dysentery.

Other medicinal applications included treating congestion, fever, and vomiting through infusions (Latin: infundere, from in “in” + fundere “pour, spread”) prepared from steeping Eastern redbud inner bark and roots.

A culinary use, still appreciated in modern times, was Eastern redbud flower fritters.

Flowers are still popular today raw in salads, baked in muffins, boiled, or incorporated into pickle relish.

Seeds may be roasted, and the pods may be sautéed.

Eastern redbud twigs, when green, are a traditional seasoning in wild game such as opossum and venison in southern Appalachia. For this reason the alternative name for Eastern redbud there is the spicewood tree.

A relative of the Eastern redbud is the European redbud (Cercis siliquastrum), which is often referred to as the Judas tree. Cercis siliquastrum is native to the Mediterranean region, from southern Europe to western Asia.

According to myth, it was from the branches of a European redbud tree that Judas Iscariot, the apostle who is identified as the betrayer of Jesus in the New Testament, hanged himself.

Another explanation for this unpleasant association is that the common name, Judas Tree, is a corruption of the common name for the species in French, arbre de Judée (“tree from Judea”), which identifies the area where the tree proliferates.

The specter of mistaken identity which has haunted Eastern redbuds through confusion with European redbuds arose in a last-minute campaign to prevent Eastern redbud's elevation to state tree status in Oklahoma.

• Early in March 1937, Roberta Campbell Lawson (October 31, 1878 - December 31, 1940), granddaughter of Charles Journeycake (Ne-sha-pa-na-cumin [December 16, 1817 - January 3, 1894), last chief of the Lenape (Delaware) tribe, and wife of lawyer turned oil magnate Eugene B. Lawson (May 27, 1871 - June 25, 1931), delayed signing of the Senate Joint Resolution by Governor Ernest Whitworth Marland (May 8, 1874 – October 3, 1941) with her urgent telegram excoriating Eastern redbud as the Judas tree.
• The controversy was resolved by John Y. Iskian (born ca. 1904), a Jerusalem transplant living in Oklahoma City, central Oklahoma, who asserted unequivocally, from personal knowledge, that, although the two trees bloomed at the same time and shared same-colored flowers, canadensis and siliquastrum comprised different, distinct species within the redbud (Cercis) genus.
• On March 30, 1937, Eastern redbud received official designation as Oklahoma's state tree.

May Frink Converse (May 12, 1877 - December 5, 1957) was a Kansan poet whose husband, Asa Finch Converse (September 11, 1875 - November 13, 1942), was an esteemed editor, publisher, and state representative (13th District, 1935-1937-1939-1941). One of May’s poems, entitled “Red-Bud,” published in Contemporary Kansas Poetry in 1927, honored the Eastern redbud’s genus, Cercis.

Although the poem seems to suggest the sad legend, mentioned above, linking one of its species, Cercis siliquastrum, with the suicide of Judas Iscariot, the great truth of Cercis canadensis is that its pastel outburst in early spring fills the hearts of its beholders with the “sheer rapture” of singing.

"Red-Bud" by May Frink Converse

I will go, I said, to the country

When the red-bud blooms in the spring

And then, as of old, for sheer rapture

My heart will sing.

The red-bud rosily blossomed

In valley and hill and plain,

And yet my heart could not banish

Its sense of pain.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Lake Marmo, Morton Arboretum (West Side), Lisle, Illinois: Jason Sturner (Jason Sturner 72), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/50352333@N06/4642769108/

CECA4: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, via USDA PLANTS Database @ https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=CECA4&mapType;=nativity

Cincinnati, southwestern Ohio: Greg Hume (Greg5030), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RedbudsOhio.jpg

Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, southeastern Pennsylvania: Raul654, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cercis_canadensis.jpg

Steve Hurst, ARS Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory, Salisbury, Maryland: Steve Hurst/ARS, Public Domain, via USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database @ https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=CECA4&mapType;=nativity

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska, southeastern Minnesota: SEWilco, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eastern_redbud_fruit_MN_2007.JPG

Newark, northeastern New Jersey: Lambique, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Redbud_tree_(Cercis_canadensis)_Close_Up_View.jpg

Eastern redbud's mid-March buds: Tim McCormack (Phyzome), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cercis_canadensis_blossom_buds.jpg

"Love's Old Sweet Song": Linda Hartong, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cardinalis_cardinalis_in_Cercis_canadensis.jpg

Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania: National Park Service, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eastern_Redbud.png

Acre, northern coastal Israel: נתרם במרכז להב"ה טירת כרמל ע"י דינה שריפט Pikiwiki Israel, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PikiWiki_Israel_29960_Judas_Tree_in_Bloom.JPG

"Redbuds add even more beauty to Rocky Falls in the springtime.": Public Domain, via National Park Service @ http://www.nps.gov/ozar/naturescience/rocky-falls.htm

New York Botanical Gardens, the Bronx, New York City: Ryan Somma, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/ideonexus/6087287461/

Plates Prepared Between the Years 1849 and 1859 (1891), Plate 39: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46924210

"A close view of the pink flowers on an eastern redbud tree.": Ryan Hagerty, Public Domain, via US Fish and Wildlife Service Digital Library @ https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/13430

Aldworth, Susan J. “Cercis canadensis (Eastern redbud) Fabaceae (Bean family).” Trees and Shrubs of the Campus of Iowa State University. Ames IA: Iowa State University Department of Botany, 1998.

"The Amana Arts Guild Center." National Park Service > Travel Itineraries > The Amana Colonies. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Web. www.nps.gov

• Available via National Park Service at: http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/amana/art.htm

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• Available at: http://www.geosymbols.org/World/Oklahoma/Tree

Brand, Mark H. (Dr.). “Cercis canadensis Eastern Redbud.” UConn Plant Database. 1997 - 2001. University of Connecticut Department of Plant Science, Storrs CT. Web. www.hort.uconn.edu

• Available at: http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/c/cercan/cercan1.html

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Browne, Maimee Lee Robinson. So Much I Wished to Say: A Selection of Poems. N.p.: Glencoe-Vacherie Press, 1967.

Converse, May Frink. “Red-Bud.” Page 31. In: Helen Rhoda Hoopes, Contemporary Kansas Poetry. Kansas City: Joseph D. Havens Co., 1927.

Dickson, James G. Cercis canadensis L. Eastern Redbud.” Silvics of North America. Volume 2: Hardwoods. Agriculture Handbook 654. Washington, DC: U.S.D.A. Forest Service, December 1990.

“Eastern Redbud Cercis canadensis L.” Plant Guide. U.S.D.A. Natural Resources Conservation Service. Prepared by Diana L. Immel, University of California-Davis Environmental Horticulture Department. Edited: June 01, 2006.

Gray, Asa. Plates Prepared Between the Years 1849 and 1859, to Accompany a Report on The Forest Trees of North America. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1891.

• Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library at: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46924242
• Available via Internet Archive at: http://archive.org/details/platespreparedb00instgoog

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Peck, Rebekah. "Redbud." Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society and Oklahoma State University Library Electronic Publishing Center. Web. digital.library.okstate.edu

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• Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library at: http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/8970#/summary
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