Cercis chinensis       2018

This is a shrub, 2-5m tall. The bark and branchlets are grayish white. The leaf blade is greenish when young with only petiole slightly purple, suborbicular or triangular-orbicular, 5-10cm, circa as long as wide or slightly longer than wide, papery, both surfaces usually glabrous or abaxially puberulent on veins, base shallowly to deeply cordate, margin membranous, transparent when fresh, apex acute.

The flowers are purplish red, pink, or white, 1-1.3cm, 2-10-clustered on old branches or especially on trunk. The pedicel is 3-9mm. The keel is tinged with deep purple stripes. The ovary is glabrous to densely puberulent. It has 5-8 ovules.

The legume is greenish, becoming stramineous at maturity, compressed, narrowly oblong, 4-8 x 1-1.2cm, dorsal and ventral suture equal or subequal, wing 1.5-2mm, base long attenuate, apex acute or shortly acuminate, with slender and curved beak. The stipe is 2-4mm. It has 2-6 seeds, blackish brown, shiny, broadly oblong, 5-6 x circa 4mm.

References
- eFloras. eFloras.org Vol. 2 pag. 200012037. Cercis chinensis

- Cercis in North America, Milton Hopkins. Rhodora 1942 Vol. 44(522) pag. 193-211. JStor
- eFloras. eFloras.org Vol. 2 pag. 106222. Cercis
- Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, P.H. Davies. 1984 Vol. 3 pag. 8-9. ISBN

Biological type: tree
Frost resistance: 5ºF
Leaf color: dark green
Flower color: pink
IUCN Red List of threatened species status: Least Concern

Specifications for the Mediterranean basin
Adult size (h x w): 19,6ft x 16,4ft
Sun exposure: full sun (Sun hours: >6h
Foliage: deciduous
Growth: fast
Flowering time from March until April

Specific information for our garden
Planting substrate: 20%Compost+40%Clay+40%Sand
Plant watering: 3x a week pH 6.5
Logical sequence of containers for: Trees; forestry plate, forestry pot 3L, container 6L, container 55L, container 110L, container 240L
Propagation is done by cuttings
Units in the garden: 1x

SPRING Soak the seeds in ambient water for 48h (Change the water every 12 hours) until the seeds swell. Keep in refrigerator at 39°F for 8 weeks in humid substrat. Sow the seeds at 2mm depth in the Well Drained Seed Sowing Mix between 64-72°F. During germination keep the substrate moist and in daylight. The seeds germinate in 11-11 weeks.
The average seed weight is 28,2 per gram (0,03541g).

Germination references
- Breaking dormancy of Cercis species with gibberellic acid, Minou Hemmat. 1972. Address
- Dynamic changes to endogenous germination inhibitors in Cercis chinensis seeds during dormancy release, Gao Yunpeng, Zhu Mingwei, Wang Haoyu and Li Shuxian. HortScience 2021 Vol. 56 pag. 1-7. DOI
- Seed coat anatomy of Cercis chinensis and its relationship to water uptake, Wang Huan, Chen Li, Dai Song, Ma Qiuyue, Wu Yang, Ma Qingjiang & Li Shuxian. Canadian Journal of Plant Science 2019 Vol. 100(3) pag. 276-283. DOI
- Seeds: Ecology, Biogeography, and, Evolution of Dormancy and Germination, Baskin, Carol & Baskin, J.M. 2014 pag. 1-1586. DOI

Germination references for the genus
- USDA Forest Service's Woody Plant Seed Manual, John K. Francis and Craig D.Whitesell. 2008. Address