Texas Redbud Tree
The Texas Redbud (Cercis Texensis, Sarg.) is commonly seen as a low shrub, forming thickets on the uplands of eastern Texas. Occasionally it reaches 40 feet in height. The leaves are leathery, but in the characters of flower and fruit the tree is much like its Northern relative.The European redbud, which grows also in Asia Minor, is stigmatised by tradition as the tree on which Judas Iscariot hanged himself. Our little tree has had to share the name, and in many places it is the " Judas tree" to-day. It is a pity to keep alive a notion so ghastly.
The most beautiful redbud is a Chinese species (C. Chinensis, Bunge), with very large and abundant pink flowers. Its leaves are bordered with a clear or white rim.