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 On
the evolutionary scale, the Cercis species are quite old. Fossils have
been found in France, which go back as far as the Cretaceous (100 million
years ago)
Name:
'Cercis' derives from the Greek 'kerkis', a word for this tree. 'Siliquastrum'
relates to the pods or fruits (siliqua), which have partitions.
In France this tree was known as the tree from Judaea (l'arbre de
Judée), an area in the Middle-East. Some say that Judas tree is
therefore a corruption of 'Judaea tree', whereas others connect it to a
legend that Judas Iscariot hung himself on this tree after betraying
Christ and ever since its spring flowers have been a deep rosy-red.
 Cultivation:
Propagation is by seed or root suckers. The tree is
not fully hardy, but can be grown in full sunlight and warm sheltered
places, such as south-facing walls. It likes limy soil and tolerates
polluted city air. A lovely display of pinkish-purple flowers opens in
May, before or with the leaves. The unusual feature of this tree is that
the flowers do not only cover the twigs, but can even sprout from the old
bark on the main trunk. The plants begin to flowers from 5-6 years old.
The flat pods stay on the tree until well into the winter. Up to 10 m
high.
Other species:
Cercis canadensis - Redbud. This is said to be one of
the loveliest American trees and in spite of the Canadian reference in its
Latin name grows from Pennsylvania southwards to Northern Mexico. Its has
been cultivated from 1641. Redbud can grow 12-15 m high and is not always
frost-hardy.
 How
old is this Judas tree?
A correspondence about guestimating the age of trees and some
interesting photos
in our Tree Talk section.
Note from webmother to
page visitors:
Many of these pages are still bare bones. Whenever time allows, we
will continue to add information to the Tree Gallery until all the
trees have descriptions of their habitat, characteristics,
cultivation, uses and anything else of interest. Why not get involved with enhancing this web resource by sending
photographs of trees, bark, details of branches, leaves, flowers, seed
and fruit in all seasons (Good use of all these new digital cameras!). Email us if you
are keen to know more about a particular tree and we will do our
best to complete that one next.
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