The Pod-bearets 



Red Bud, Judas Tree (Cercts Canadensis, Linn.) — A dainty 

 tree, sometimes 40 to 50 feet high, oftener much smaller, with 

 broad, flat head of slender, smooth, thornless, angular branchlets. 

 Bark reddish brown, furrowed deeply and closely, broken into 

 small, scaly plates; twigs brown or grey. IVood heavy, hard, 

 close grained, weak, red-brown. Buds inconspicuous, axillary, 

 scaly, blunt. Leaves simple, entire, broadly heart shaped or 

 ovate, alternate, deciduous, on long, slender, smooth petioles 

 which are enlarged at apex; autumn colour yellow. Flowers, 

 April, before the leaves, in axillary fascicles^ pea-like, ^ inch long, 

 rose pink to purplish; numerous, conspicuous. Fruit a pod, thin, 

 pointed, flat, smooth, lustrous, purplish, stalked, 2 to 3 inches 

 long, many-seeded. Preferred habitat, borders of streams, under 

 other trees. Distribution, New Jersey to western Florida, Alabama, 

 Mississippi, Texas; Ontario to Nebraska and south. Maximum 

 size, Arkansas to Texas. Uses: Important hardy ornamental 

 tree. Grown in Europe. Flowers sometimes eaten as a salad. 



The early-blooming trees and those of small size will ever 

 be held in affectionate regard. Here is one of the most charming 

 of them all — a dainty, low-headed tree skirting the woodlands in 

 the North, often growing farther south in dense thickets, under 

 the taller trees. It wakes with the shad-bush and the wild plum 

 and covers its bare twigs with a profusion of pea-like rosy magenta 

 blossoms in clusters that hug the branch closely, and continue to 

 open until the leaves have unfolded. 



The hardiness of the redbud commends it to planters in 

 the Northeast, as well as in the warmer parts of its natural range. 

 It is widely cultivated as a flowering tree. After the flowers, 

 the glossy, round leaves are beautiful, as are also the dainty, pale 

 green pods, which in late summer take on their purple hue. The 

 foliage, unmarred by the wear and tear of a season of growth, 

 turns to bright yellow before it falls. 



A further merit of the redbud tree is that it begins blooming 

 when very young. It should be in every shrubbery border. 

 Some people prefer the double-flowered form offered by nursery- 

 men. A variety, pubescens, called the downy redbud, grows wild 

 from Georgia westward. 



The Texas Redbud (Cercis Texensis, Sarg.) is commonly 

 seen as a low shrub, forming thickets on the uplands of eastern 

 Texas. Occasionally it reaches 40 feet in height. The leaves 



334 



