FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 367 



Eastern Texas to southern Kansas and southward into northern Mexico. Reappearing 

 in Arizona, southern California, and Lower California. 



OCCURRENCE. 



Desert plains, valleys, mesas, and canyons, under soil and climatic conditions like those 

 of screwpod, to which it is also similar in silvical characteristics. 



CERCIS. JUDAS TREES. 



Cercis forms a group of small trees and shrubs popularly known as red- 

 buds or Judas trees. It contains about 7 species, which occur in parts of Asia. 

 Europe, and North America. All of the 3 species of this continent arc trees, 

 one inhabiting eastern United States, one Texas and Mexico, and one Cali- 

 fornia. The eastern and southwestern species are the largest of our representa- 

 tives. They have dense, hard, brown, heavy woods, but are commercially unim- 

 portant trees, chiefly because of their small size and rather rare occurrence. 

 Several are highly prized, and are much planted as ornamental trees on account 

 of their bright rose-colored, pea-like flowers, which cover the branches with a 

 brilliant flame of color in early spring, before the leaves appear. The eastern 

 species grows in moist, rich forests, while the western ones often inhabit dry, 

 poor, rocky, and exposed situations. The thickish, single-bladed, heart-shaped 

 leaves have from 3 to 5 prominent veins, and are shed in autumn. The fruit, 

 ripe in autumn, is a very thin and flat bean-like pod with small, brown, hard, 

 bean-like seeds. 



California Red-bud. 



Cercis occidentalis Torrey. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS. 



California rod-bud is not generally regarded as a tree, but it occasionally grows 

 to tree size in sheltered places, and then has a single, smooth, grayish trunk 

 from 10 to 12 feet high and from 2 to 3 inches througb. Much more frequently, 

 however, it grows in dense clumps with slender stems from 2 to 4 feet high. 

 The small, pea-shaped flowers (fig. 172) are a clear magenta color. Mature 

 leaves (fig. 172 1. smooth throughout (as are the twigs and branches). In 

 autumn the twigs and branches often bear many clusters of pointed, flat, very 

 thin, russet-brown pods (fig. 172) ; in ripening, the pods are first purple. Wood, 

 fine-grained, dark yellowish brown, with a rather thin layer of whitish sapwood. 

 Of no economic or domestic use. 



It is worthy of the forester's notice only for its aid. with other foothill brush, 

 in forming a scanty cover along dry. rocky borders of streams. 



Longevity. — Undetermined. 



RANGE. 



California. — Along streams from Mendocino County and the region about Mount 

 Shasta southward to San Diego County. 



OCC lURRENCE. 



Borders of foothill streams, low mountain slopes and "canyons, in dry, or rather dry, 

 gravelly and rocky soils. Crows singly and in shrubby clumps interspersed with Cali- 

 fornia buckeye, ceanothus, manzanita, and other chaparral brush in gray pine belt; 

 tree forms occur in sheltered situations. 



