Eastern Redbud
Cercis canadensis · Fabaceae · Deciduous
The redbud produces magenta-pink flowers directly on its bare branches and even on the trunk in early spring, before any leaves appear — a habit called cauliflory that very few temperate trees share. The heart-shaped leaves identify it for the rest of the year.
Quick facts
- Arrangement
- alternate
- Leaf
- Perfectly heart-shaped leaves with smooth edges and a papery texture, turning clear yellow in autumn.
- Bark
- Dark grey-brown, smooth when young, becoming scaly with orange showing in the cracks.
- Fruit
- Flat brown pea-pods hanging in clusters and persisting into winter.
- Height
- 15–30 ft
How to confirm it
- Perfectly heart-shaped leaves with completely smooth edges.
- Pink flowers emerging directly from bare branches and trunk in early spring.
- Flat pea-pods, since it is a legume.
- Small understorey tree, rarely over 30 feet.
What it is confused with
One observation settles each of these.
Katsura has opposite heart-shaped leaves with scalloped edges; redbud leaves are alternate and smooth-edged.
Where it grows
Eastern and central North America, at woodland edges and extremely widely planted as an ornamental.
Start here: opposite or alternate?
Look at where the leaves join the twig. Are they in matched pairs directly across from each other, or staggered one after another? The vast majority of trees are alternate, so finding an opposite tree removes almost everything else in one step.
In North America, opposite-leaved trees are remembered as MAD Cap Horse: Maple, Ash, Dogwood, Caprifoliaceae (viburnums and elders), and Horse chestnut. That is very nearly the whole list.
Check partway along a healthy twig rather than at the tip, where crowding can make alternate leaves look paired. And check more than one twig.