Texas Sugarberry

Texas Sugarberry

Celtis laevigata var. texana

Ulmaceae (Elm Family)

▲ dwarf hackberry trunk in foreground of wild black cherry trunk

▲ ▼ warty bark on young trees

▲ ▼ leaves grown in shade

▲ ▼ thicker leaves in full sun

Location on campus: in lawn area at Normal and Kings, east of Kings

Celtis laevigata var. texana: Texas Sugarberry

• leaves similar to common hackberry, but more slender and darker green and sometimes without rough-textured upper surface--leaves usually thicker than common hackberry or regular sugarberry
• fruit is usually red to blue-black and very sweet � favored by birds
• bark is more warty than common hackberry
• often smaller growing, with more dense, stiff branching than sugar hackberry
• tolerates drier, rockier soils than sugarberry--a common tree of Ozark hills and glades
• native to Missouri (and Springfield)