CELTIS OCCIDENTALS, L. 101 



Habit. A small or medium-sized tree, 20-45 feet high, 

 with a trunk diameter of 8 inches to 2 feet ; attaining farther 

 south a maximum of 100 feet in height, with a trunk diameter 

 of 4-6 feet ; variable ; most commonly the rough, straight 

 trunk, sometimes buttressed at the base, branches a few feet 

 from the ground, sending out a few large limbs and numer- 

 ous slender, horizontal or slightly drooping and more or 

 less tortuous branches ; head wide-spreading, flattish or often 

 rounded, with deep green foliage which lasts into late autumn 

 with little change in color, and with cherry-like fruit which 

 holds on till the next spring. 



Bark. Bark of trunk in young trees grayish, rough, 

 unbroken, in old trees with deep, short ridges ; main branches 

 corrugated ; secondary branches close and even ; branchlets 

 pubescent ; season's shoots reddish-brown, often downy, more 

 or less shining. 



Winter Buds and Leaves. Buds small, ovate, acute, scales 

 chestnut brown. Leaves simple, alternate, extremely variable 

 in size, outline, and texture, usually 2-4 inches long, two- 

 thirds as wide, thin, deep green, and scarcely rough above, 

 more or less pubescent beneath, with numerous and promi- 

 nent veins, outline ovate to ovate-lanceolate, sharply serrate 

 above the lower third ; apex usually narrowly and sharply 

 acuminate ; base acutish, inequilateral, 3-nerved, entire ; leaf- 

 stalk slender ; stipules lanceolate, soon falling. 



Inflorescence. May. Appearing with the leaves from the 

 axils of the season's shoots, sterile and fertile flowers usu- 

 ally separate on the same tree ; flowers slender-stemmed, the 

 sterile in clusters at the base of the shoot, the fertile in 

 the axils above, usually solitary ; calyx greenish, segments 

 oblong ; stamens 4-6, in the fertile flowers about the length 

 of the 4 lobes, in the sterile exserted ; ovary with two long, 

 recurved stigmas. 



Fruit. Drupes, on long slender stems, globular, about the 

 size of the fruit of the wild red cherry, purplish-red when 

 ripe, thin-meated, edible, lasting through the winter. 



Horticultural Value. Hardy throughout New England ; 

 grows in all well-drained soils, but prefers a deep, rich, 



