Eastern Redbud

Description

Botanical Name:  Cercis canadensis var. canadensis

Common Name:  Eastern Redbud

Description:  The Eastern Redbud is a beautiful Florida native tree that should be grown in your garden. It’s a highly ornamental and showy small tree or shrub, fast growing to 15-30′ tall x 15′ wide, with spreading crown. It can be grown as either a multi-stemmed shrub or single trunk tree. Its leaves are heart-shaped and glossy green. Grows best in a part sun or part shade area. It blooms pinkish purple in early spring before the leaves appear. The flowers and young pods are edible. The flowers can be eaten raw or boiled and seeds may be roasted. It is not deer resistant. The seeds are eaten by bobwhites and other birds.

Eastern redbud’s irregular flowers are pink to magenta and born in clusters of four to eight within leaf axils and along branches and trunks. Flower buds are small, dark red to reddish-brown, and appear in winter. They bloom in profusion before new leaves emerge. Young leaves are yellowish-green and emerge folded along the midrib. As they mature, they unfurl and turn a dull green. They are paper-thin and cordate to orbicular with entire margins and a pointed apex. In the fall, they may turn bright yellow. Leaf arrangement is alternate. The trunk is often twisted and covered in gray to reddish-brown bark. Branches are thin and may zigzag as they grow. Fruits are flattened pods that contain 10 or more seeds.

Its native habitat is upland hardwood forests, bluffs, hammocks, secondary woods as an understory tree.

Larval host for Henry’s elfin (Callophrys henrici) and Io moth (Automeris io). Attracts bees for pollination, including bumble bees.

Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water. Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray.

This plant in 3-gallon containers is 2-4′ tall.

This plant in 7-gallon containers is 4-6′ tall.

This plant in 15-gallon containers is 6-8′ tall.

Plant Lore:  Bloom can be long lasting relative to other early spring blooming trees — as long as a month. Duration is dependent on temperature. Flowers grow directly from the trunk.

Florida Hardiness Zones 8 – 9