Passing an evening .......

Cercis siliquastrum - Judas Tree

Leafing through a friends photographs last night we started a discussion on The Judas Tree. It was quite interesting to see the pictures that she had taken over the period of almost a month and watch this flowering tree open up.

A deciduous tree, it has a habit of spreading and usually has more than one stem or trunk. It has heart shaped bluish-green leaves, which is all I personally have ever seen, but my friend tells me that in the Autumn the leaves turn yellow. It is a longstanding myth that Judas Iscariot hung himself from a specimen of this tree, thus it's common name.

We looked at the photographs from her holiday for nearly two and a half hours and most of them were quite interesting. She has just returned from the island of Skopolos, which is becoming ever more popular due to the making of the film 'Mamma Mia'. A regular visitor there she has taken photographs over a period of some years showing the changing face of the Island and it's habitat. An interesting evening.