Cercis siliquastrum

The Judas tree is in the pea or Fabaceae family and is a small tree to 10–15 m tall, native to the south of Europe in Iberia, southern France, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Asia Minor. It forms a handsome low tree with a flat spreading head.

• Leaf is heart-shaped (cordate) with a blunt apex, up to 12 cm long and wide, which occasionally has shallow notches at the tip. Leaves are often bronze at first during spring, turning to deep blue-green, then golden-yellow in the autumn.
• Unlike the redbuds, the leaves on the Judas tree fold towards the middle of the leaf.
• Magenta pink flowers cover bare branches and even the stem in early spring before leaves appear.
• Flat pods up to 12 cm long that hang vertically and often persist in the fall and winter long after the leaves have fallen.
• Twigs are zigzag; buds are oblong, pointed, single or in small clusters in winter; bark has cracks that divide the stem into small square plates.