Cercis canadensis

'Texas Redbud'

Caesalpiniaceae: a large deciduous shrub or small, often multi-stemmed tree to 12m by 10m. Found in rich woods, ravines and borders of streams. Small, bright-pink flowers appear in clusters on bare stems before the leaves in spring. Blooming from May to June. Heart-shaped leaves, which red in autumn. Native to Eastern and Central North America, from New York to Florida, west to Texas and Wisconsin.

USES:

The flowers can be eaten raw or pickled. They have a nice refreshing acid taste; the flowers are rich in vitamin C and make a pleasant addition to salads. They can also be used as a condiment. The unopened buds are pickled or used as a caper substitute.

A tea made from the inner bark has highly astringent properties. Used in the treatment of fevers, diarrhoea and dysentery, it is also a folk remedy for leukaemia. A cold infusion of the roots and inner bark have been used to treat various chest complaints including whooping cough and congestion.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Redbud seeds have a very shallow dormancy combined with a hard, water-impermeable seed coat and require pre-treatment for successful germination to occur. Without pre-treatment it is likely that 10% or less of the seeds will germinate. A combination of a variety of seed pre-treatments is usually necessary to make the seed coat permeable so that the seed embryo can take up water and begin to germinate.

The first (and easiest) method is place the seeds in a heat proof container and pour hot (near boiling) water over them and leave them to soak for between 24 hours. Seeds that have been successfully pre-treated will have swollen to around 2-3 times their previous size. Remove all swollen seeds as these will be damaged by further pre-treatments. These seeds can be placed in a plastic bag and placed in the fridge for temporary storage. This hot water treatment can be repeated up to 3 times, making the water a little hotter each time.

The remaining method is to physically breakthrough the seed coat by cutting or (k)nicking the edge of the seed with a knife or using a file or even rubbing them between layers of fine sandpaper. All these methods can be used to break through the seed coat. Once you have done this soak the seeds in cold water for 12-24 hours and successfully treated seeds will have imbibed water and swollen greatly. Any that have not could be scarified again followed by another water soak. Sow all the seeds, even those that remain small as they may germinate much later (perhaps years later).

Next the seeds require a cold period to break the final part of the dormancy, this is easily achieved by mixing the seeds with a free draining mix of moist compost placing the bag in the fridge at (4°C) for at least 1 week. It is quite possible for the seeds to germinate in the bag at these temperatures when they are ready to do so, if they do, just remove them from the bag and carefully plant them up. After a week in the fridge the seed should be ready to be planted. Small quantities can be sown in pots or seed trays filled with a good quality compost and cover them with a thin layer of compost no more than 5 mm deep.

The seed usually germinates from a week to 10 days at 15-20°C. It is important that temperatures or not greatly higher than this or germination will be reduced. The roots are delicate, and seedlings should be individually potted up as soon as possible since plants quickly become intolerant of root disturbance. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late summer if they have made enough growth, otherwise in late spring of the following year.

Prefers a deep sandy loam and a very sunny position. Although the dormant plant is cold-hardy, the young growth in spring, even on mature plants, is frost-tender and so it is best to grow the plants in a position sheltered from the early morning sun. A fast-growing but short-lived tree in the wild. Resents root disturbance, plants should be planted into their permanent positions as soon as possible.

Attracts butterflies and bees.

HARVESTED: 2020