Features:
Common name: Judas tree
Family: Caesalpiniaceae
Origin: Judea, Asia Minor
Height at maturity: 5 to 8 meters
Hardiness: -10°C
Exposure: sunny
Plant type: ornamental shrub
Vegetation: perennial
Foliage: deciduous
Flowering: spring
Flower color: bright pink to purplish-pink
Type of soil: rich, calcareous and draining
Watering: regular
Use: in the garden, isolated
Diseases and pests: psylla
Toxicity: –
Storage of seeds: 3 years in a dry place away from light at 3/4°C (refrigerator)
Description:
Small tree with a rounded crown, slightly crooked branches. The Judas tree prefers warm climates, but it tolerates winters very well.
The leaves measure 7 to 12cm and are webbed, arched and slightly reddish in color, they are often folded. Before the appearance of the leaves, bouquets of three to six flowers, 1 to 6 centimeters long, of bright pink to purplish-pink colors bloom.
The flowering is very spectacular, the flowers are born on all the old wood, whatever the size of the branches… and even on the trunk! The trunk has a fissured black or pinkish gray bark.
The fruits appear in summer and are grouped in thin, pendulous pods, of a brownish-red color. They remain on the tree after the leaves have fallen. The fruits attract birds such as tits for example.
The growth of the Judas tree is rapid in the first years and then slows down thereafter.
This tree is very decorative, it can be planted alone or in clumps.
According to the Bible, Judas hung himself from this tree, hence its name. Its flowers are the tears of Christ and their color purple, the color of the traitor’s shame.
