Cercis siliquastrum
Specifications
Family
Fabaceae
Species
Cercis siliquastrum L.
Juda's tree
mediterranean redbud
love tree
Description
The sapwood is whitish and the heartwood is yellow-brown, fine-textured and straight-grained.
Plant morphology
The siliquastro is a small tree (reaching 10 m in height) or, more commonly, a shrub. The bark is a grayish-black color. The leaves are heart-shaped, with palmate veins and a glossy green color, sometimes with reddish hues when young. It is deciduous, producing its first leaves around April and losing them in late November. The flowers are hermaphroditic, with a papilionaceous corolla and are pink, lilac, or white in color. They are gathered in racemes that appear before the leaves, in March-April, directly from the bark of the branches and trunk. It begins to flower at around six years of age. The fruits are dark, pendulous pods, very numerous and remain attached to the plant until the end of winter.
Natural occurrence
Countries of origin and distribution
Mediterranean Basin. In Italy, it grows wild in some areas of Molise and Campania.
Habitat and ecology
This species prefers calcareous substrates and can thrive on arid slopes with coarse soil; it is a common plant in the Mediterranean scrub. Thanks to its ornamental value, it is easily encountered in urban environments.
Uses
Use class
CU1
CU2
CU3
CU4
CU5
Application areas
It does not have many uses, sometimes used for turning and inlay.
Technical data
Aesthetic characteristics
Texture
Fine
Physical and mechanical properties
Density
ρ
ρ
720
kg/m3
Radial shrinkage
Rad. sh.
Rad. sh.
High
Tangential shrinkage
Tang. sh.
Tang. sh.
High
Durability characteristics
Fungal resistance
Moderatamente durabile
Miscellaneous
The flowers are edible.