932. The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



CELTIS CRASSIFOLIA, Hackberry 



Celtis crassifolia, Lamarck, Encycl. iv. 138 (1797); Michaux, Hist. Arb. Amer. iii. 228, t. 9 (1813); 



Loudon, Arb. el Frut. Brit. iii. 1418 (1838); Britton, Man. Fl. North. States and Canada, 



339(1901). 

 Celtis cordata, Persoon, Sp. PI. i. 292 (1805). 

 Celtis Audibertiana, Spach, Ann. Sc. Nat. sdr. 2, xvi. 41 (1841). 

 Celtis occidentalism Sargent, Silva N. Amer. vii. 67 (1895), an< ^ Trees N. Amer. 299 (1905). (In 



part.) 



A tree, attaining rarely as much as 130 feet in height, and 10 feet in girth. 

 Bark as in C. occidentalis. Young branchlets pubescent. Leaves usually about 

 2\ inches long by \\ inch broad, but on isolated branches, commonly found in the 

 inner part of the crown, often 6 inches long and 3 inches broad ; ovate, unequal, 

 and shortly cuneate at the base, shortly acuminate at the apex, serrate, as a rule, only 

 in the upper half ; upper surface scabrous to the touch ; lower surface pubescent on 

 the nerves ; petiole, \ inch or more, pubescent. Fruiting pedicels long, f inch 

 or more. Drupe purple, red or black when ripe, globose or ovoid, about inch in 

 diameter. 



This species, which is not distinguished by Sargent, even as a variety, from 

 C. occidentalis, is remarkably distinct in foliage, and appears to be a more upright 

 and faster-growing tree in cultivation than that species. Michaux states that it is 

 one of the finest species of the genus, remarkable for its great height and straight 

 trunk, and that it is common in the states west of the Alleghanies, especially in 

 Ohio and Kentucky, where, however, its timber was little esteemed on account of its 

 weakness and liability to speedy decay on exposure to the weather. Its distribution 

 has been confused with that of C. occidentalis ; but, according to Britton, it occurs 

 from New York to South Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee. 



(A. H.) 



Ridgway 1 speaks of this species of Hackberry under the name of C. occidentalis, 

 as "a very tall and beautiful tree in rich bottoms, growing frequently 120 to 130 feet 

 high and 3 feet in diameter, with a tall straight trunk of 60 to 70, or even 80 feet to 

 the first limb. When growing to its full perfection in a dense forest, there is an 

 individuality about the aspect of this tree which it is difficult to describe, owing to 

 the extreme slenderness and great length of the trunk, which not unfrequently 

 comprises three-fourths of the total height of the tree ; and the smooth grey bark 

 conspicuously clouded on the north side with blackish moss or lichen for its entire 

 length. This striking appearance is sometimes increased by vines of the Virginia 

 creeper ascending to the topmost branches, which are wreathed and matted with its 

 foliage. One tree was seen whose silvery shaft gleamed among the surrounding 

 tree tops, in a wood where the summit level was considerably more than 100 feet 

 aloft, and though only 10 feet in circumference must have been upwards of 90 feet 



1 Proc. U.S. Nat. Museum, 1882, p. 72. 



