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West Virginia Trees

Chapter 98: RED BUD
By A. B. Brooks
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Nature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

A practical field guide to the native and introduced trees of West Virginia, providing keys based mainly on leaves and fruits, concise family and species descriptions, and detailed line drawings for about 101 native species. It organizes trees by botanical families, gives brief flower notes, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for identifying specimens; occasional introduced species and shrubs are noted. The bulletin emphasizes simplicity for non-specialists, offers measurements and habit descriptions for each species, and includes administrative prefatory material. Its aim is to aid lay readers and students in tree identification and to encourage local interest in forestry.

RED BUD

Cercis canadensis, L.

Form.—Height 15-25 feet, diameter 6-10 inches; trunk usually inclined and short; crown broad, open and shallow.

Leaves.—Alternate, simple, rounded, 3-5 inches long, with heart-shaped base, and blunt apex; smooth, entire, bright pale green above, paler beneath.

Flowers.—April, before the leaves; perfect; in form like the sweet pea, red-purple, arranged in umbel-like clusters along the branches of the last or preceding years.

Fruit.—A flattened, many-seeded pod, the upper suture with a winged margin.

Bark.—Thin, with shallow fissures and scaly reddish brown ridges.

Wood.—Heavy, hard, not strong, reddish brown with thick whitish sapwood.

Range.—Ontario to Florida, west to Minnesota and Kansas.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Common in most parts of the State, forming thickets along borders of woods and streams. Rare in the higher counties.

Habitat.—Rich moist soil of abandoned fields, open woods and stream banks.

Notes.—This tree is chiefly ornamental. Its profuse purplish flowers give it attractiveness early in the spring, when the Service and Flowering Dogwood are in bloom.