redbud (Cercis canadensis)
Fabaceae, the legume family
How to recognize redbud. Aww, how romantic, leaves like so many Valentine’s hearts. Or maybe they’re kidneys…less sentimental but probably more anatomically correct.
![](https://dendro.ohioplants.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Cercis-canadensis-750x563.jpg)
Redbud leaves are alternate, entire-margined, with a pleasing cordate shape.
Redbud is an understory tree, most evident in late April, when it explodes with pink pea-like flowers.
![](https://dendro.ohioplants.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Cercis-canadensis-3-750x500.jpg)
Redbud stands out when it is in flower.
The flowers are bilaterally symmetrical, with a typical pea family (Fabaceae) structure, and a simple one-chambered fruit, a legume.
![](https://dendro.ohioplants.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Cercis-canadensis-7-750x250.jpg)
Redbud is a member of the legume family, with pealike flowers and fruits.
In the winter. Redbud twigs are narrow, with smal ova; leaf scars that are alternate ikn arrangement. .
![](https://dendro.ohioplants.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Cercis-canadensis-2-500x750.jpg)
Surprise! Redbud twigs have red buds.
Well, reddish, anyway.
Where to find redbud. E. Lucy Braun, in The Woody Plants of Ohio (1961, 1989; The Ohio State University Press) tell us that this species “In Ohio, infrequent or local in the northern third of the state, more common southward; abundant on calcareous soils in southwestern Ohio, where it sometimes is the dominant tree of young second-growth stands, es-ecially on slopes of southerly exposure.”