Judas tree

English

Judas tree

Noun

Judas tree (plural Judas trees)

1. A small deciduous tree, Cercis siliquastrum, noted for its prolific display of deep-pink flowers in spring.
   • 1762, “The compendious System of Natural History,” The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure, Volume 30, June 1762, p. 297,^[1]

     The Spaniards and Portuguese title the siliquastrum the lovely tree, or tree of love; and we call it Judas tree, from a tradition, that it was the tree Judas hanged himself upon.

   • 1858, Adelaide Anne Procter, “The Wayside Inn” in Legends and Lyrics, New York: D. Appleton, p. 119,^[2]

     […] children, drawing water,

     Looked up and paused to see,

     Amid the apple branches,

     A purple Judas tree.

   • 1926, Vita Sackville-West, Passenger to Teheran, London: Leonard & Virginia Woolf, Chapter V, II,^[3]

     [The garden] is a tangle of briars and grey sage, and here and there a judas tree in full flower stains the whiteness of the tall planes with its incredible magenta.

Synonyms

• European redbud

Translations

Cercis siliquastrum

• Cherokee: ᏃᏓᏥ (nodatsi)
• Greek: κουτσουπιά (el) f (koutsoupiá)
• Hebrew: כְּלִיל הַחֹרֶשׂ‏‎
• Kurdish: erxewan (ku) f
• Persian: ارغوان‏‎ (fa) (arğavân)

• Polish: judaszowiec południowy (pl) m, judaszowiec wschodni (pl) m
• Portuguese: olaia f, árvore-de-judas f
• Spanish: arjorán m, ciclamor m, árbol del amor m, algarrobo loco m, árbol de Judas m
• Turkish: deliboynuz, erguvan (tr)

References

• Cercis siliquastrum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Cercis siliquastrum on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Cercis siliquastrum on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons