Cercis canadensis^ 



THE CANADIAN JUDAS-TREE. 



Synonymes. 



CerHs canadensis, 



Gainier de Canada, Bouton rouge, 

 Canadischer Judasbaum, 

 Siliquastro di Canada, 

 Judas-tree, Red-bud, 



( LiNNiEus, Species Plantarum. 



De Ca.ndolle, Prodromus. 

 - Don, Miller's Dictionary. 



Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 



ToRREY A.\D Gray, Flora of iS'orlh America. 



France. 



Germany. 



Italy. 



Britain and Anglo- America. 



Engravings. Nuttall, North American Sylva, pi. ; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, v., pi. 103; ana iha figures bebw. 



Specific Characters. Leaves acuminate, villose beneath, at the axils of the veins. As compared with the 

 Cercis siliquastram, its flowers are of a paler rose-colour, the legume is on a longer pedicel, and tipped 

 with a longer style. De Candolle, Prodromus. 



Description. 



^^HE Cercis 

 1A 'n P 1^ Judas-tree 



canadensis, like the 

 of Europe, forms a 

 handsome shrub, or low tree, 

 seldom attaining a height of 

 twenty feet, wlien wild, but sometimes double this height 

 in a state of cultivation. It is at once distinguished from 

 that tree by its leaves being heart-shaped, and pointed, 

 much thinner, more veined, and of a lighter green ; and 

 the flowers are generally produced in less numbers. 

 The leaves are broadly ovate-cordate, acuminate, hairy 

 along the veins on their under sides, of a light bluish- 

 green above, and of a pale sea-green underneath. The 

 flowers, which put forth before the leaves, in March, 

 April, and May, are of a purplish hue, acid to the taste, 

 and are succeeded by small, flat, thin, brownish pods, 

 containing numerous seeds. 



Geography and History. The Cercis canadensis, in its indigenous state, is 

 sparingly produced along the banks of rivers from Canada to Louisiana ; and it 

 is found cultivated for ornament in many of the gardens and collections both in 

 Europe and in America. It was introduced mto Britam in 1730 ; but it has never 

 been much cultivated there. 



The largest tree of this species in Europe, and perhaps on the globe, is at Paris, 

 in the Rue Grenelle, in the garden of house No. 122, whieli is stated to be forty 

 feet in height, and eighteen inches in diameter. In the Jardin des I'lantcs, in the 

 same city, there is also a tree which attained the height of thirty-six feet in flt'ty- 

 five years after planting, with a trmik ten inches in diameter, and an ambitus 

 of twenty feet. 



In the environs of London, this tree is seldom found more than ton or twelve 

 feet in height. 



In the Bartram botanic garden, at Kingsessing, near Philadelphia, there is a 



