Earlham Cemetery in Norwich is full of trees, with many fine and unusual specimens. The Friends of Earlham Cemetery group has put together a list of trees in Earlham Cemetery but this is very much a work in progress and we often find interesting new trees.

One such tree is the Katsura, Cercidiphyllum japonicum. It instantly stands out because its heat-shaped leaves grow out of its branches in opposite pairs. It looks a bit like a Judas Tree, Cercis siliquastrum, but the Judas Tree has alternate, rather than opposite, leaves. Katsura leaves are also serrated, whereas Judas Tree leaves are untoothed.

The Katsura forms an elegant, medium-sized deciduous tree. Its flowers are inconspicuous and wind pollinated and produced in early spring and the fruit are small clusters of pods. But you wouldn’t grow the tree for these. The leaves are the best feature – with shades of bronze when young and turning yellow, orange and pink in autumn. The smell of the leaves in autumn has been compared to burnt sugar or candyfloss, surely a reason to grow this tree or visit somewhere where it grows, for a quick sniff.

Cercidiphyllum japonicum grows in the wild in China and southern Japan and there is also a related species, C. magnificum, in Japan. Cercidiphyllum means “leaves like Cercis“, but the trees are in different families – Cercis is a legume (family Fabaceae a.k.a. Leguminosae), whereas Cercidiphyllum is in a family of its own, the Cercidiphyllaceae.