98 Bulletin of tlie University of Texas 



North Carolina to Florida and west to Texas. It extends 

 into Texas as far as the Trinity River. 

 The wood is of no economic value. 



3. CELTIS (Tournefort) L. The Hackberries. 



Trees or shrubs with simple alternate leaves, smooth, thin 

 or warty bark, and scaly buds. The leaves are 3 rarely 4-5 

 veined at the base, entire or toothed ; staminate flowers borne 

 in clusters, pistillate solitary or few together in axils of the 

 leaves; fruit an ovoid or globose drupe with thin sweet pulp 

 and wrinkled bony stone. The drupe hangs on the tree until 

 early spring. The hackberry is our commonest shade tree. 



1. Leaves sharply and coarsely serrate 1. C. occidentals. 



2. Leaves entire or with only a few teeth. 



a. Leaves densely gray tomentulose be- 

 neath, few toothed, somewhat heart- 

 shaped at base 2. C. Helleri. 



b. Leaves smooth or nearly so beneath. 



(1) Leaves thick, strongly reticulate 



veined with a few teeth 3. C. reticulata. 



(2) Leaves thin, entire, slightly curved 



lanceolate to ovate lanceolate 4. C. Mississippiensis. 



1. Oeltis occiden tails L. Hackberry. White Hackberry. 

 Usually a small tree 30-40 high and l-2 in diameter, but 

 occasionally much larger. The trunk branches a few feet 

 from the ground into a few large limbs. The small branches 

 are horizontal, forming a broad rounded crown. Bark on 

 young twig green, somewhat hairy, becoming reddish brown ; 

 on old trunks thick, light brown or silver gray, with short 

 ridges or warty excrescences. Leaves ovate, 2 1 / 4'-7' long, 

 usually long taper pointed, slightly heart-shaped or unequal 

 at base, usually sharply toothed occasionally entire margined, 

 thin, smooth or nearly so above, hairy beneath. The flowers 

 appear during April and May, they are small and inconspicu- 

 ous. The fruit is a globular drupe Vj/ long, dark purple. It 

 is sweet and edible. The tree is known in some localities as 

 sugar berry. 



St. Lawrence Valley to the Gulf States, and west to Texas 

 and Manitoba. It occurs only in the eastern part of Texas. 



