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)