
Eastern redbud is a shrub or small tree. It is beautifully ornamental in spring with small, clustered, rose-purple flowers covering the bare branches before the leaves appear.
Leaves are simple, alternate, 2–6 inches long, 1¼–6 inches wide, oval to heart-shaped, tip pointed, base heart-shaped; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface paler and smooth with some hairs along veins and in vein axils; leaf stalk 1¼–5 inches long, smooth.
Bark is reddish brown to gray, thin and smooth when young. Older trees have long grooves and short, thin, blocky plates.
Twigs are slender, smooth, brown to gray, often zigzag, pith white.
Blooms in late March to early May.
Flowers small, 2–8 per cluster, on stalks ¼–¾ inch long; flowers ¼–⅜ inch long, rose-purple, petals 5, in a typical pea-flower configuration.
Fruits are pods 3–4 inches long, about ½ inch wide, tapering at the ends, leathery, reddish brown; seeds several, egg-shaped, flattened, ⅛–¼ inch long. Pods often abundant, appearing September–October and persisting.
At maturity, to 40 feet tall; to 35 feet wide.

Statewide.
Habitat and Conservation
Grows in open woodland, borders of woods, dolomite glades, and along rocky streams and bluffs; also found in landscape plantings. In the wild, it is generally an understory tree.
Status
Common native understory small tree or shrub.
Human Connections
Eastern redbud and its cultivated varieties are favorite small, spring-flowering trees for landscaping; in fall the leaves turn yellow or greenish yellow. Many find the pods attractive as well.
The flowers are edible, with a mild, sweet flavor, and can be a bright topper for early spring salads, either raw or pickled. The small flower clusters may also be dipped in batter and fried. You can add the flowers to muffins, pancakes, or cookies, or you can add them to stir-fries, dips, and dressings. You can use redbud blossoms to make a bright pink jelly (or, skipping the pectin, a syrup).
Our woodlands in spring are beautified by clouds of blooming understory trees, notably the magenta of redbuds and the white of flowering dogwoods. These flowering trees are a boon to Missouri tourism, and local festivals have arisen around them. In years when we have exceptional spring color, the redbuds continue to bloom long enough to overlap the bloom-time of the dogwoods.
A natural genetic difference causes some redbud trees to have white flowers instead of the standard pink/magenta color. This strain is called "white redbud" (botanically, forma alba) and is popular among landscapers.
Eastern redbud has a wide range in eastern North America. It is the official state tree of Oklahoma.
Ecosystem Connections
Like other members of the legume (bean, pea) family, eastern redbud has root nodules that contain symbiotic bacteria; together, the bacteria and the tree can convert ("fix") nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into a form that can be used as a plant nutrient. In this way, legumes enrich the soils they grow in.
The seeds are eaten by several species of birds, and the foliage is browsed by white-tailed deer.
The flowers are a valuable early-spring nectar source for bees, especially various species of native carpenter bees, longhorn bees, bumblebees, cuckoo bees, sweat bees, mason bees and other megachilid bees, and andrenid bees.
Many butterfly and moth caterpillars eat the foliage, especially in spring, and they, in turn, become food for nesting birds. These include the larvae of Henry's elfin and the redbud leaffolder moth (a black-and-white-banded caterpillar that sticks leaves closed with silk).
Leafcutter bees often clip little circles from redbud leaves and use them to line their tubular nests.
Various kinds of beetles chew the leaves, wood, roots, or fruits. One type of leaf beetle, Gibbobruchus mimus, has grublike larvae that eat the seeds inside the developing pods, finally leaving behind a small exit hole in the empty pod. This weevil-like species is called the "redbud bruchid" because its preferred host, by far, is the eastern redbud.
Redbud, as it forms colonies and loose thickets, provides cover for many mammals and birds.
Relatives: Globally, there are about ten members of genus Cercis. A glance at their flowers and leaves, and you can see they're close relatives. If you travel, you might encounter species such as the western redbud, Cercis occidentalis, which is native to northern California and portions of Utah and Arizona, or the European redbud or Judas tree, Cercis siliquastrum, which is native to the Mediterranean regions of southern Europe and western Asia (a.k.a. the Middle East).




















