GEOLOGIC HISTORY OF THE LOCUST 295 



The European Judas-tree, Cercis siliquastrum is a native of 

 the south of France, the Spanish peninsula, Italy, Greece and 

 Asia Minor. It is a handsome low tree with a flat spreading 

 head, much utilized in ornamental plantings throughout Europe. 

 Its profuse purplish-pink flowers appear before the leaves. They 

 have an agreeable acid taste and are sometimes mixed with 

 salads or made into fritters. 



When originally described the Judas-tree was the tree of 

 Judea, from its supposed origin in Palestine. This name 

 gradually became transposed into Judas-tree and tradition ac- 

 counted for the latter name by the fact that it was this tree on 

 which Judas Iscariot hanged himself. The tree was frequently 

 figured by the herbalists, and one, Castor Durante, gives a 

 woodcut showing Judas hanging from the branches thus 

 illustrating the popular tradition. 



The American tree, Cercis canadensis, is much like its Euro- 

 pean relative in every way and like the latter it is commonly 

 known as the Judas-tree, particularly in ornamental plantings, 

 for which it is extensively used not only throughout our north- 

 eastern states but also in western Europe. In its natural sur- 

 roundings it is perhaps more often known as the Red bud, and 

 is one of the striking objects of the early almost leafless spring 

 woods, its masses of purplish-pink blossoms close to the branches, 

 contrasting with the white of the opening dogwood and forming 

 splashes of bloom in the gray woods. In the latter half of March 

 the traveller through Virginia and the Carolinas can scarcely 

 distinguish from the train window between the blooming peaches 

 and the red buds of the door-yards. 



Our Judas-tree grows naturally from the valley of the Dela- 

 ware and southern Ontario to Tampa Bay, northern Alabama, 

 Mississippi and Texas, and extends westward along the bottoms 

 of the larger streams into the eastern border of the prairie states. 

 It is said that the blossoms are sometimes eaten, although I have 

 never observed this custom. In the days before the prevalence 

 of aniline dyes the branches were sometimes used for giving wool 

 a nankeen color. 



The members of this genus are too small for lumbering and the 



