Cercis occidentalis: Magenta Spring of California or Western Redbud

Summary: Cercis occidentalis is a New World tree native to American Southwest. Western Redbud dazzles with magenta spring flowers and fall's yellow, then red leaves.

closeup of Cercis occidentalis flowers in April: Stan Shebs, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cercis occidentalis is a New World deciduous tree native to the southwestern corner of the United States. Cercis occidentalis claims native homelands in four southwestern states: Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.

Preferred native habitats feature elevations up to 4,000 feet (1,219 meters). Cercis occidentalis favors harsh environments, such as canyons, steep slopes and ephemeral stream beds. Cercis occidentalis thrives in gravelly, rocky and well-drained soils.

Scientific synonyms include Cercis canadensis var. orbiculata and Cercis occidentalis var. orbiculata.

Cercis occidentalis is known commonly in English as California Redbud or Western Redbud.

Cercis occidentalis (pronunciation: SER-sis ock-sih-den-TAY-liss) adapts to landscapes beyond the borders of native homelands.

In the continental, or Lower 48, United States, Western Redbud thrives in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 6A to 9B, surviving average annual minimum winter temperature ranges of minus 10 to minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23.3 to minus 20.6 degrees Celsius) to 25 to 30 degrees F (minus 3.9 to minus 1.1 degrees C).

Cercis occidentalis succeeds as an introduced or naturalized tree in 37 of the Lower 48 states. Eleven northern states serve as unfavorable locales: Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Western Redbuds range in height from 7 feet (2-plus meters) to over 20 feet (6-plus meters). With a spread of 15 to 25 feet (4.5 to 7.62 meters), they present graceful vase-like silhouettes.

Sweetpea (Lathyrus odoratus)-like flowers colorfully celebrate spring from February through April, appearing before leaves. Five petals dazzle in colors from magenta pink to reddish purple and attract New World pollinators such as bumble bees (Bombus spp.) and orchard mason bees (Osmia lignaria).

Shiny, thick leaves present heart-shaped, reniform (Latin: ren, “kidney” + formis, “having the form of”), or rounded, silhouettes. As deciduous (Latin: deciduus, “that which falls off”) trees, Western Redbuds forego spring and summer greenness for autumnal glory, first as yellow and then as brown and red.

Seedpods, which average seven, bean-like hard seeds, ripen first as purple and then turn russet-brown, persisting into winter.

Native Americans of the American Southwest especially value Western Redbud for wine-red young branches and twigs that contribute vividness to basket designs.

Because of Western Redbud’s penchant for vigorous resprouting after fires, prior to Euro-American settlement of California, Native Americans routinely burned hillsides after autumnal leaf shedding to encourage sprouting of straight, young shoots prized in basketry.

Cercis occidentalis in southern Nevada in late March: Stan Shebs, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

closeup of Cercis occidentalis flowers in April in Red Rock Canyon, Spring Mountains, southern Nevada: Stan Shebs, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cercis_occidentalis_branch.jpg

Cercis occidentalis in the south fork of Pine Creek Canyon, Red Rock Canyon, Spring Mountains, southern Nevada: Stan Shebs, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cercis_occidentalis_1.jpg

For further information:

Anderson, M. Kat. "California Redbud: Cercis orbiculata Greene." Plant Fact Sheet. Last edited 01jun06. USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center.
Available @ http://www.plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_ceor9.pdf

Anderson, M. Kat. "California Redbud: Cercis orbiculata Greene." Plant Guide. Last edited 01jun06. USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center.
Available @ http://www.plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_ceor9.pdf

Gilman, Edward F., and Dennis G. Watson. "Cercis occidentalis: Western Redbud. Fact Sheet ENH311. November 1993; reviewed May 2014. University of Florida IFAS Extension > Redbud > Southern Trees Fact Sheets > Leguminosae (Fabaceae)(taxonomic family).
Available @ https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/st152

Marriner, Derdriu. "Cercis mexicana: Purple Pink Spring Flowers of Mexican Redbud." Earth and Space News. Tuesday, April 28, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/cercis-mexicana-purple-pink-spring.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Cercis reniformis Oklahoma: Magenta Spring Flowers of Oklahoma Redbud." Earth and Space News. Friday, May 1, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/05/cercis-reniformis-oklahoma-magenta.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Cercis siliquastrum: Deep Pink Spring Flowers of Judas or Judea Tree." Earth and Space News. Monday, April 27, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/cercis-siliquastrum-deep-pink-spring.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Cercis texensis: Showy Pink to Purple Red Flowers of Texas Redbud." Earth and Space News. Thursday, April 30, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/04/cercis-texensis-showy-pink-to-purple.html

"Taxon: Cercis occidentalis Torr. ex A. Gray." USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
Available @ http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?9946