202 TREE ANCESTORS 



in form, glossy green, palmately 5 to 7 veined and arranged in a 

 two-ranked manner on the long shoots. The pods are small and 

 compressed, lustrously red purple in color, and fall in the late 

 autumn or early winter. There are 5 or 6 existing species of Cercis 

 although the majority of my readers will be famihar with only 

 the European Judas-tree or its very similar American relative. 

 In addition to these two well known ornamental trees there is a 

 third species in Texas, another on the Pacific coast of North America 

 and two or three more in southwestern, central, and eastern Asia. 

 Thus Cercis is another genus whose distribution suggests the same 

 thoughts as did the distribution of Gymnocladus. But in the case 

 of the former more links in the chain have remained until modern 

 times and its distribution today suggests what may have been and 

 probably was the distribution of Gymnocladus in Miocene times. 



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 be- 

 came transposed into Judas-tree and tradition accounted 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 herbal- 

 ists, 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 European 

 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 northeastern states 

 but also in western Europe. In its natural surroundings it is 

 perhaps more often known as the red-bud, and is one of the strik- 

 ing objects of the early almost leafless spring woods, its masses of 

 purplish-pink blossoms close to the branches, contrasting with the 



