''Celtis laevigata'' is a medium-sized

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Common names include sugarberry, Southern hackberry, or in the southern U.S. sugar hackberry or just hackberry. Sugarberry is easily confused with common hackberry ('' C. occidentalis'') where the range overlaps. Sugarberry has narrower leaves with mostly smooth margins, the berries are juicier and sweeter, while the bark is less corky. The species can also be distinguished by habitat: where the ranges overlap, common hackberry occurs primarily in upland areas, whereas sugarberry occurs mainly in bottomland areas. Sugarberry's range extends from the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...

west to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and south to northeastern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It is also found on the island of

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

Ecology

Sugarberry occurs primarily along streams and in moist soils on

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

s. Its sweetish fruit is eaten by

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s and rodents, helping to disperse the

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s. The leaves are eaten by a number of insects, for example

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

s of the Io moth (''

Automeris io ''Automeris io'', the Io moth () or peacock moth, is a colorful North American moth in the family Saturniidae. The io moth is also a member of the subfamily Hemileucinae. The name Io comes from Greek mythology in which Io was a mortal lover of ...

''). Sugarberry's

leaf litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that have fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent ...

contains allelopathic chemicals that inhibit seed germination and growth in many other plant species.

Cultivation and uses

Sugarberry mixed with hackberry supplies the lumber known as hackberry. Small amounts are used for dimension stock,

veneer Veneer may refer to: Materials * Veneer (dentistry), a cosmetic treatment for teeth * Masonry veneer, a thin facing layer of brick * Stone veneer, a thin facing layer of stone * Wood veneer, a thin facing layer of wood Arts and entertainment * ' ...

, and containers, but the main use of sugarberry wood is for furniture. The light-colored wood can be given a light- to medium-brown finish that in other woods must be achieved by bleaching. The wood is also used to produce sporting goods and

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

.Florida Forest Trees: Sugarberry (''Celtis laevigata'')
Sugarberry is frequently planted as a shade-tree within its range. It is well-adapted to urban areas; its

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...

-like shape and warty bark make it an attractive landscape tree.

Gallery

File:Celtis laevigata bark.jpg, Bark File:Celtis laevigata leaf.jpg, Leaf File:Celtis laevigata fruit.jpg, Gall

References

External links

Sugarberry Fact Sheet from Virginia Tech

* RangeMap:

{{Taxonbar.html" ;"title="ttp://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500332 Flora of North America: ''Celtis laevigata''
RangeMap:

{{Taxonbar">from=Q1529852 laevigata Plants described in 1811 Trees of Bermuda Trees of the North-Central United States Trees of the Northeastern United States Trees of Northeastern Mexico Trees of the Southern United States Trees of the Southeastern United States Trees of the Great Lakes region (North America)