Cercis siliquastrum - Judas tree

Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum) is a deciduous Mediterranean tree with pink flowers that appear directly on the bark before the leaves, and its flowers and young seedpods are edible. Despite being a legume, it does not fix nitrogen: it belongs to Cercidoideae, an early-diverging legume subfamily that lacks the rhizobial nodulation symbiosis.¹

Inputs

• Hardiness zone 6²
• Hardiness zone 7²
• Hardiness zone 8²
• Hardiness zone 9²
• Hardiness zone 10²

Outputs

• Human food²
• Wood²

Type

• Tree
• Deciduous

Functions

• Attracting bees²
• Wildlife habitat²
• Fire resistance³

Footnotes

1. Granqvist, E. et al. (2015). Bacterial-induced calcium oscillations are common to nitrogen-fixing associations of nodulating legumes and non-legumes. New Phytologist, 207(3), 551–558. Tested Cercis siliquastrum root hairs against rhizobial Nod factor as a non-nodulating control species (0 of 15 cells responded). ↩

2. Cercis siliquastrum | Plants for a Future ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

3. Fire Retardant Flora, Glen Forrest Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade, adapted from “Trees and Plants for Bush Fire Prone Areas,” Fire and Emergency Services Authority (Western Australia), 2002 ↩