CELTIS MISSISSIPPIENSIS SUGARBERRY. 37 



GENUS CELTIS, TOUBN. 



Leaves pointed, somewhat oblique at the base. Flowers appearing with the leaves, 

 greenish, axillary, monoeciously polygamous; the staminate flowers in little fascicles or 

 racemes ; calyx 6-parted, stamens 6 ; the fertile flowers solitary or in pairs, pedunculate, 

 calyx 5-parted, stamens 5, ovary 1-celled, styles 2, stigmas awl-shaped, elongated, recurved. 

 Fruit a globular drupe, 1-seeded; seed containing a little gelatinous albumen, embryo 

 curved, cotyledons crumpled. 



(Celtis is the ancient Greek name of the Lotus.) 



265. CELTIS MISSISSIPPIENSIS, Bosc. 



MISSISSIPPI HACKBERRY OR SUGARBERRY. 

 Ger., Mississippi Zurgelbaum. Fr., Micocoulier de Mississippi. Sp., 



Almez de Mississippi. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves ovate to oblong-lanceolate, inequilateral and often 

 falcate, 3-nerved, from wedge-shaped to rounded and very oblique at base, long taper- 

 pointed, entire or with remote low sharp teeth, smooth dark green above, paler beneath. 

 Flowers as described for the genus. Fruit small orange brown drupes, % to % in. long, 

 \vith thin flesh and reticulated pit. 



Var. reticulata (Torr.) Sarg. is the Palo Blanco of the Southwest. 



The Mississippi Hackberry is a tree sometimes 75 or 80 ft. (25 m.) in 

 height with oblong or rounded head and more or less droopng lower branches, 

 and a trunk seldom more than 2 or 3 ft. (0.80 in.) in thickness. The bark 

 of trunk is very peculiar and characteristic. It is of a bluish gray color 

 and smooth but for curious irregular corky excrescences which project at 

 intervals prominently from its surface. These excrescences vary greatly in 

 abundance, sometimes almost completely covering its surface and some- 

 times being almost entirely absent, but either extreme is exceptional. 



HABITAT. The banks of streams, lake shores and rich bottom-lands, and 

 less commonly limestone ridges, from southern Indiana and Illinois south- 

 ward throughout the Mississippi basin to the Gulf, and from the western 

 base of the Alleghany Mountains to western Arkansas and eastern Texas 

 and Mexico. It is also found throughout Florida. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood quite heavy, hard, strong and tough, with 

 thin medullary rays, conspicuous large open ducts and regularly arranged 

 rows of smaller ducts. It is of a light brownish yellow color, with thick 

 greenish white sap-wood. Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 49.75. 



Xot found in large enough size or in sufficient abundance to be prominent 

 in commerce, but of properties suitable for use in the manufacture of agri- 

 cultural implements, etc. 



