436 



DECIDUOUS TBEES. 



THE JUDAS, OR RED-BUD TREE. Cercis canadensis. 



Fis. 142. A beautiful little tree, native of oui 



forests in most parts of the country. 

 When grown in open ground, its head 

 spreads broad and low in parasol form. 

 It is covered the last of April, or early 

 in May, before the leaves expand, with 

 a profusion of very small pink blos- 

 soms, that are showy by their abund- 

 ance, and have given the tree the 

 name of red-bud, by which, when 

 growing wild, it is usually known. When grown 

 with full exposure to the sun, in rich soil, the 

 leaves are from five to seven inches in diameter, 

 a perfect heart-shape, of a pure green color and 

 glossy surface on the upper side, and grayish- 

 green beneath, forming a mass of most cleanly 

 and elegant foliage. The leaves are quite free 

 from the attacks of insects. A cultivated tree 

 in rich ground differs so much from the same 

 sort growing in the woods, that it is scarcely recognizable as the 

 same ; changing from a straggling small-leaved, thin-foliaged, 

 scrawny little tree, to one of the most luxuriant of low-spreading 

 trees. The engraving. Fig. 142, is a portrait characteristic of the 

 appearance of the tree when young ; the specimen from which it 

 was drawn having been planted but six years. As it increases in 

 age the head becomes more oblate and distinctly parasol-like. The 

 seeds of the tree are contained in bean-like pods from four to six 

 inches long, which hang on the tree through the winter. Height, 

 at maturity, from twelve to eighteen feet ; breadth of head twenty 

 to thirty feet. 



The English Judas-tree, Cercis siliguastrum, is quite similar 

 to the above, the leaves being a little smaller and the flowers 

 darker. The latter "haye an agreeable acid taste, and are mixed 

 in salads, or fried in batter as, fritters." 



