LEGUMINOSAE 



Eastern Redbud 

 Cercis canadensis L. 



HABIT. Usually a shrub, but not infrequently a small tree 

 up to 40 feet high and 2^/^ feet in diameter; frequently planted 

 as an ornamental. 



LEAVES. Alternate; simple; broad ovate to reniform; 3-5 

 inches in diameter; apex acute; base cordate; margins entire; 

 glabrous; deciduous; petioles long, slender; stipules small, 

 membranaceous, caducous. 



FLOWERS. Irregular (subpapilionaceous) ; perfect; in sim- 

 ple fascicles; appearing before the leaves; calyx short, top- 

 shaped, purple, 5-toothed, persistent; corolla 5-petaled, rose- 

 colored; stamens 10, free, inserted in 2 rows on margin of thin 

 disk, persistent; ovary short-stalked; ovules numerous in 2 ranks. 



FRUIT. Stalked, flat, oblong, russet-brown legume 2-3 

 inches long; tipped with remnant of style. Seed: % inch long, 

 ovoid or oblong, compressed, red-brown. 



TWIGS. Slender; round; unarmed; marked by numerous 

 pale lenticels and elevated leaf scars. Winter buds: terminal 

 absent; axillary small, scaly, obtuse, chestnut-brown. 



BARK, Thin; gray; smooth or becoming scaly on old trunks. 



WOOD. Heavy; hard; not strong; ring porous; heartwood 

 dark red-brown; sapwood white, thin; unimportant. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Tolerant; reproduction vigor- 

 ous; typical of bottomlands and stream borders; a variety recog- 

 nized in the Southwest is texensis (S. Wats.) Hopkins, the Texas 

 redbud. 



* * * 



California Redbud 



Cercis occidentalis Torr. 



This similar species is usually shrubby but has been reported 

 as a tree in California and in the Grand Canyon. Its range is 

 from southern Utah and Nevada to California and Arizona 

 and it differs from Eastern redbud in having leaves 2-3 inches 

 long which are obtuse or emarginate at the apex. 



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