Cercis Siliquastrum —The Judas Tree

Hidden Treasures of the Arboretum Cercis siliquastrum —The Judas Tree T EX T B Y J ANINE A NDERSON f you’re strolling along turn yellow to chestnut brown in fall. Arboretum Drive around Cercis siliquastrum is a member I Easter, pause to consider of the pea family (Fabaceae). The the Judas tree, Cercis siliquastrum, great 18th-century Swedish located on the north side of the botanist Carl Linnaeus first small parking lot that’s just described the plant and gave north of the towering grove it its species name, which of giant sequoia. Its common comes from the Latin word name derives from the belief siliqua, meaning “pod.” The that Judas Iscariot hanged him- flowers of the Judas tree develop self from this tree species after into flattened, purple-tinted, he betrayed Jesus. (It has other peapod-like structures that persist common names, too, with more into late summer. cheerful connotations—including the Native from Southern Europe to love tree and the Mediterranean redbud.) Western Asia, the plant has been widely Even without the Biblical backstory, it’s a cultivated since ancient times. It can grow up tree worth considering, due to its undemand- to 25 feet tall and often has a shrubby, multi- ing nature and fine ornamental qualities. In late trunked habit, though the specimen in the spring, small, rosy-pink, pea-like flowers cover Arboretum is a handsome, slender tree with a the branches and even the trunk. The plant’s single trunk. It does best in full sun and moist, alternate, heart-shaped leaves, which appear well-drained soil. The flower show is at its most after the flowers, emerge reddish bronze, change impressive when the previous year’s summer has to gray green for most of the season and then been long and warm. 8 v Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin LEFT: Flowers blooming directly from a large branch of the Judas tree in the Arboretum. (Photo by Niall Dunne) RIGHT: The tree’s heart-shaped foliage. (Photo by JLPC/ Wikimedia Commons) to the collapse of the Soviet government the following year. “One of our tour’s highlights was a visit to Soviet Georgia and its beautiful capital, Tbilisi, which boasts a magnificent 17th-century botani- cal garden right in the city center. Our group made a day trip out into the countryside, visit- ing Gori, Joseph Stalin’s birthplace, and also the ancient rock fortress Uplistsikhe on the banks of the Kura, or M’tk’vari, River. “It was there that I gathered a few pods of the native Cercis siliquastrum that dotted the gravelly banks of the river. Soviet-Era Intrigue “It being the dry season, the flow of water in The narrative of our Judas tree doesn’t end here, that very broad riverbed was reduced to a narrow however. Just as interesting as the tree’s con- central channel, with the rest of the sandy river- nection to the Bible and its physical beauty—or bed thick with naturalized Cannabis sativa. It was perhaps even more so—is the story behind how a very hot day when we walked around the caves it became a member of the Arboretum collection. of Uplistsikhe, and at one point we visited the Enter Scot Medbury, the current president of the rustic home of a goat herder, who offered us fresh Brooklyn Botanic Garden. water from his well. I asked this man (in Russian) Back in the late 1980s, Scot was a student if anyone smoked the leaves of the plant growing in the Masters of Science Program at the in the riverbed, and he just smiled very broadly. Center for Urban Horticulture. His under- “The entire tour, especially of Georgia, was graduate degree—also from the University of very memorable, and it’s nice to know that there Washington—had been in Russian and East is a living legacy of our trip during that historic European Studies. In August 1989, as a result time growing in the Arboretum!” of his background and skills, Scot joined Willis According to the Arboretum’s historic Konick, a celebrated UW professor of compara- records, Scot’s Judas tree seed was accessioned tive literature, as a co-guide on a garden tour of in 1990, propagated, and then planted out in seven Soviet cities. 1995. Since then, the tree has grown to about As Scot relates the story, “Willis was culture, 15 feet tall. and I was horticulture. That summer proved a very interesting time to take a group of Americans White-Flowering Form to the Soviet Union, as there was much evidence The Arboretum is home to another speci- of change afoot, momentum that ultimately led men of the Judas tree. A white-flowering Spring 2017 v 9 The Judas tree blooming in April along Arboretum Drive. (Photo by Niall Dunne) form, C. siliquastrum f. alba, can be found near While strolling in the Arboretum on your Rhododendron Glen, just south of parking lot way to visit the Judas tree, pause to reflect on #6, between Arboretum Drive and the upper trail the hidden treasure trove of stories behind the of the Lookout Loop. It was also grown from seed Arboretum’s other plants. Just like with people, acquired in 1990, but via the Index Seminum many of the trees and shrubs have good yarns program. In this case, the seed was supplied by worth telling. m Giardini Botanici Hanbury, in northern Italy. Its condition was last recorded in 2013 as “good;” JANINE ANDERSON, CPH, is an award-winning, the plant produced “abundant pods” that year. Pacific Northwest-based landscape designer Apart from its white flowers, alba doesn’t signifi- (www.anderson-design.net), garden writer, and cantly differ from the straight species. member of the “Bulletin” Editorial Board. 10 v Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin.

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