Species
+

Cercis chinensis Bunge

Chinese Redbud, bagtaeginamu, 박태기나무

Climate known 9 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 chinensis, the Chinese redbud, is a plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is endemic to China, where it grows in southern and north-central China and Manchuria.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cercis chinensis”, 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
Bunge
Native to
China South-Central, Manchuria, China North-Central +1
Wild records
275 in range· 94 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Jul, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1158mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 192 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–33DLI
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: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1158 mm a year, wettest July at 192 mm, driest December at 26 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 33 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -5.0 °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 canadensis var. chinensis (Bunge) Ito; Cercis chinensis f. alba S.C.Hsu; Cercis chinensis f. leucantha Sugim.; Cercis chinensis f. pubescens C.F.Wei; Cercis chinensis f. rosea P.S.Hsu and 4 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern).

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

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (868 mm of 1158 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 23.1 °C against a yearly mean of 16.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

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 1158 mm a year, wettest July at 192 mm, driest December at 26 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1158 mm a year at the habitat, 868 mm of it April to September. Wettest month July at 192 mm, driest December at 26 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 588 mm to 1967 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: 16 to 33 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 33 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 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

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 -5.0 °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 -5.0 °C, the absolute minimum -13.4 °C, about 47 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -0.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells -6.4 °C to 4.4 °C), warmest day 30.8 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -5.0 °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: 58 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 8 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Jul; mean night from -1 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1158 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 251 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -13.4 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.1 °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°frost38.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-13.4° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 16–33RH 58–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 251 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 °C8 / 3–1310 / 6–1415 / 11–1821 / 17–2325 / 22–2728 / 24–3131 / 26–3330 / 26–3226 / 22–2921 / 17–2415 / 11–1810 / 5–14
Night °C-1 / -6–41 / -4–65 / 0–911 / 7–1516 / 13–1921 / 17–2323 / 19–2622 / 18–2518 / 14–2213 / 8–177 / 1–111 / -4–6
Rain mm29 / 5–9039 / 8–11665 / 18–17892 / 27–225133 / 53–257190 / 77–315192 / 136–262161 / 123–225100 / 64–15978 / 32–11153 / 15–8726 / 5–53
DLI17 / 14–1920 / 15–2423 / 18–3029 / 23–3632 / 27–3931 / 28–3833 / 31–3631 / 29–3326 / 22–2922 / 17–2418 / 14–1916 / 13–18
RH %59 / 52–6460 / 51–6460 / 51–6560 / 51–6460 / 53–6463 / 54–6663 / 60–6763 / 60–6662 / 58–6560 / 54–6459 / 53–6358 / 52–63

Each figure is the median across the 251 grid cells holding the 273 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 1186:5863 (30.675, 113.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -13.4 °C, 1st-percentile night -5.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.1 °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 251 distinct grid cells holding the 273 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1186:5863 (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 30.50_113.125, lapse-corrected -2 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 27 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.
NativeChina South-Central, Manchuria, China North-Central, China Southeast· introduced: Ukraine, Transcaucasus, Korea
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker33.31, 108.31 · in the densest population, 175 records (64% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 275 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 94 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 92 km away. 205 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 275 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cercis chinensisCercis chinensisCercis chinensisCercis chinensisCercis chinensisCercis chinensisCercis chinensisCercis chinensis

Photographs: (c) mister_bumble, some rights reserved (CC BY); cot777italy, CC BY-SA, via GBIF (2); rotavi511, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; mario, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Joan Simon, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; mister_bumble, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; urbano lyubov, CC BY-SA, via GBIF.

Photographs: iNaturalist 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 chinensis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Phenological responses of plants to climate change in an urban environment
Zhongkui Luo, Osbert Jianxin Sun, Quansheng Ge, Wenting Xu (2006) · Ecological Research
Evolution of a symbiotic receptor through gene duplications in the legume–rhizobium mutualism
Stéphane De Mita, Arend Streng, Ton Bisseling, René Geurts (2013) · New Phytologist
Methyl gallate and chemicals structurally related to methyl gallate protect human umbilical vein endothelial cells from oxidative stress
Wan Kyunn Whang, Hyung Soon Park, In Hye Ham, Mihyun Oh (2005) · Experimental & Molecular Medicine
Assessment of Air Pollution Tolerance and Particulate Matter Accumulation of 11 Woody Plant Species
Huong-Thi Bui, Uuriintuya Odsuren, Kei-Jung Kwon, Sang-Yong Kim (2021) · Atmosphere
Antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitiory activity of Cercis chinensis flowers
Juanjuan Zhang, Li Zhou, Lili Cui, Zhenhua Liu (2020) · Food Science and Human Wellness
A 170 year spring phenology index of plants in eastern China
Quansheng Ge, Huanjiong Wang, Jingyun Zheng, This Rutishauser (2014) · Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences
Visual preference of plant features in different living environments using eye tracking and EEG
Ningning Ding, Yongde Zhong, Jiaxiang Li, Xiao Qiong (2022) · PLoS ONE

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 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)
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 84 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.