PlantFiles: Common Hackberry, American Hackberry
Celtis occidentalis

This tree is very common in Nashville and has become somewhat "politically incorrect" to have growing! It's the last tree to leaf out in the Spring and, you guessed it, the first to lose its leaves in the Fall. The small fruits made excellent ammunition for our pea shooters in the days of yore. Birds like them, too, but they seem to pass through their digestive tracts nearly whole making a mess on sidewalks and driveways. If you have an old one, you should watch for the very large limbs that can sometimes be as thick as the trunk. They are prone to split off and as large as they are, can cause big damage. Hmm, maybe I see why they're not well-loved, after all!

Becoming more commonly planted - still uncommon to rare for home yards in Minnesota - most commomly planted for public projects - a good example is the Hennepin Side of the Coon Rapids Dam. The mature species form what one known professor said "worm casts" - squiggle lines that are short and raised from a mostly smooth to weakly cracked surface.

Celtis occidentalis COMMON HACKBERRY Dec (z4) (ENa,B&W,Bon)
Sm fruits turn from or-red to deep-purple & are "sweet and edible raw"(Coon); medium-large tree with shiny, toothed leaves & pebbled bark. Sun/Med.

I moved into a house with a mature hackberry next to the driveway. Initially, I thought it would be nice to park under it but I soon began to notice a strange residue on the car that attracted bees. Some kind of sap that dropped like raindrops. Then it started to berry and birds started leaving me little gifts all over my car. All that isn't too bad especially because you don't have to plant the tree next to the driveway, however, it reseeds itself everywhere and it is driving me nuts. I probably have about 10-15 hackberry trees growing vigorously in my backyard; it has potential to be invasive.

A beautiful tree that is an asset to the gardens and fields here in this area. The unique bumpy bark provides wonderful winter interest and the small fruits are attractive to birds and wildlife.

It can grow quite large and the trunk is often seen in interesting contorted shapes.

Quite a conversation piece and very nice because the small leaves produce very little litter in the Fall.

I have a c. occidentalis growing here in FL.
Although it's found growing in dry upland sites here in the state, my yard is anything but dry upland.

The tree isn't that happy here, I can tell. A better choice for this area is the c. laevigata or southern hackberry/ sugarberry which is found growing in my local area in wet sites.

These trees are very deep rooted, so other plants can be grown close to it, or directly underneath it. The largest species is the Mississippi Hackberry which can grow to 100 ft or more in the wild.

It tolerates a wide range of conditions. Fruits can be messy. It is prone to leaf gall and "witches broom" where branches grow in clusters.

Leaves are pale yellow in autumn.