There are 7 to 8 species of Redbuds classified from North America, East Asia, and southern Europe & west Asia. They are deciduous small trees or large shrubs. They bear profuse clusters of pea-like flowers of rose-pink or purplish-pink usually before leaf emergence in spring. The name of Redbud comes from those flowers still in bud being a deep purplish-pink colour. There is a slight mutation of flower colour that causes white flowers, resulting in white blooming cultivars. The leaves are alternate, heart-shaped to circular, usually getting a good yellow fall colour. The fruit is a dry fruit being a brown, woody legume (pea-like) pod. Oftentimes some of the flowers and fruit are borne on the trunks of the trees. The scientific generic name of "Cercis" comes from the Greek word of "Kerkis" that means a weaver's shuttle, which is descriptive of the woody pods. In classical Latin the letter of "C" was always pronounced as a K, before the letter received an S sound before e & I with Medieval Latin.

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