Species
+

Cercis siliquastrum L.

Judas Tree, Judas-tree, Judastree, lovetree

Climate known 73 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Cercis siliquastrum, commonly known as European Cercis, the Judas tree or Judas-tree, is a small deciduous species of redbud in the flowering plant family Fabaceae which is noted for its prolific display of deep pink flowers in spring. It is native to Southern Europe and Western Asia.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cercis siliquastrum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Cercis

Cercis is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Cercidoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. It contains small deciduous trees or large shrubs commonly known for the Judas tree in Europe or as redbuds in the USA. They are characterised by simple, rounded to heart-shaped leaves and pinkish-red flowers borne in the early spring on bare leafless shoots, on both branches and trunk ("cauliflory"). More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Cercis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
France, Albania, Bulgaria +13
Wild records
1536 in range· 1233 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Jul, mean day; nights 17 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
806mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 93 mm (CHELSA)
Light
9–44DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to February and April to May in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 806 mm a year, wettest October at 93 mm, driest July at 40 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 44 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -3.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cercis florida Salisb.; Siliquastrum orbicularis Moench.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to February and April to May in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (609 mm of 806 mm) takes 8 months, September to February and April to May. Mean temperature moves 17.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to August and October to November.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 806 mm a year, wettest October at 93 mm, driest July at 40 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

806 mm a year at the habitat, 609 mm of it September to February and April to May. Wettest month October at 93 mm, driest July at 40 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 644 mm to 1150 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 44 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 44 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 5, the highest 90th-percentile month 49).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -3.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -3.3 °C, the absolute minimum -11.9 °C, about 21 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 1.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells -1.2 °C to 6.4 °C), warmest day 26.8 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 9 °C in Jan to 27 °C in Jul; mean night from 2 °C in Jan to 17 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 806 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1171 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -11.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost38.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)-11.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 9–44RH 56–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1171 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C9 / 6–1210 / 7–1213 / 11–1516 / 14–1820 / 18–2324 / 21–2727 / 23–3027 / 23–3023 / 20–2618 / 16–2213 / 10–1710 / 6–13
Night °C2 / -1–62 / -1–64 / 2–87 / 5–1111 / 9–1515 / 12–1917 / 14–2117 / 14–2214 / 11–1911 / 8–156 / 3–113 / 0–8
Rain mm71 / 51–13058 / 40–11558 / 43–9569 / 45–10067 / 27–10252 / 8–8340 / 6–7247 / 7–7873 / 18–11493 / 59–13591 / 63–15487 / 61–155
DLI11 / 7–1617 / 12–2225 / 20–3033 / 29–3839 / 33–4443 / 36–4944 / 36–4837 / 31–4328 / 22–3518 / 14–2512 / 8–179 / 5–13
RH %62 / 59–6760 / 58–6459 / 56–6258 / 56–6158 / 55–6157 / 53–6156 / 51–6057 / 53–6159 / 56–6162 / 58–6463 / 59–6763 / 59–69

Each figure is the median across the 1171 grid cells holding the 1524 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 912:3693 (44.375, 4.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -11.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1171 distinct grid cells holding the 1524 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 912:3693 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 44.50_4.375, lapse-corrected -434 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 51 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFrance, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Turkey· introduced: Great Britain, Austria, Germany, Baleares, Corse, Portugal, Spain, Romania, Krym, Ukraine, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Madeira, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, India, Pakistan, South Australia
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker43.324, 5.485 · in the densest population, 444 records (29% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1536 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 1233 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 241 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 12 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1536 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cercis siliquastrumCercis siliquastrumCercis siliquastrumCercis siliquastrumCercis siliquastrumCercis siliquastrumCercis siliquastrumCercis siliquastrum

Photographs: (c) Eleftherios Katsillis, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Marc Riera, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Alessia Guggisberg, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Cercis siliquastrum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Changes in leaf hydraulic conductance correlate with leaf vein embolism in Cercis siliquastrum L.
Andrea Nardini, Sebastiano Salleo, Fabio Raimondo (2003) · Trees
GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS OF ORNAMENTAL JUDAS TREE (Cercis siliquastrum L.) SEEDLINGS UNDER DIFFERENT CONCENTRATIONS OF LEAD AND CADMIUM IN IRRIGATION WATER
Mansoure Hatamian, Abdolhossein Rezaei Nejad, Mohsen Kafi, Mohammad Kazem Souri (2019) · Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Hortorum Cultus
Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum L. subsp. siliquastrum) as a possible biomonitor for Cr, Fe and Ni in Istanbul (Turkey).
Ülkühan Yaşar, İbrahim İlker Özyiğit, Memduh Serin (2010) · Dspace Repository (Marmara Üniversitesi)
Effect of acid scarification and cold moist stratification on the germination of Cercis siliquastrum L. seeds
Εlias Pipinis, Elias Milios, P. Smiris, CHRISTOS GIOUMOUSIDIS (2011) · TURKISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY
Change to amount of chlorophyll on leaves depend on insolation in some landscape plants
Hakan Şevik, Deniz Güney, Hilal Karakas, Gülnur Aktar (2012) · International Journal on Environmental Sciences
Phylogenetic relationships of a new species of seed-beetle infestingCercis siliquastrumL. in China and in Europe (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae: Bruchini)
Gaël J. Kergoat, Pierre Delobel, Alex Delobel (2007) · Annales de la Société entomologique de France (N S )
Interaction of Lead and Nitrate on Growth Characteristics of Ornamental Judas Tree (Cercis siliquastrum L.)
Abdolhossein Rezaei Nejad, Mansoure Hatamian, Mohsen Kafi, Mohammad Kazem Souri (2018) · Open Agriculture
A comparative study on the adsorption of toxic cationic dyes by Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum) seeds
Birol Işık, Volkan Uğraşkan, Fatih Çakar, Özlem Yazıcı (2022) · Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery
New invasive bruchine species (Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) in the fauna of Romania, with a review on their distribution and biology
Alexandru–Mihai Pintilioaie, Cosmin-Ovidiu Manci, Lucian Fusu, Mircea‐Dan Mitroiu (2018) · Annales de la Société entomologique de France (N S )

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Cercis 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 115 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.