Scientific Name: Celtis occidentalis
Height: 50-60 ft tall
Width: 30-40 ft wide
Growth rate: 12-24 inches a year
Hackberry Tree
Growing Tips
A hackberry tree is a very hardy tree. It can grow in various temperatures that range, and can withstand a drought or heavy rainfall. Hackberries grow best in full sunlight. These trees are great for inhospitable yards as long as you water it for the first couple years.
Wildlife
This tree is host to over 50 species of moths and butterflies. Winter birds love the fruit this tree produces. Birds like the cedar waxing, mockingbird and robin eat from this tree. You won’t find the drupes on the ground because the birds will eat them before they die.
Seasons
The tree is mainly green, but turns yellow in the fall.
Fun Facts
Common names given to the hackberry include common hackberry, sugarberry, nettletree, beaverwood, northern hackberry and American hackberry.
This is a large shade tree that can help cool down the summer. It can also withstand the cold temperatures of an Ohio winter. Hackberry trees are great city trees due to their hardiness.
People use hackberry drupes in jelly, wine and other foods to this day. There are many places to find hackberry drupe recipes still.
The tree intercepts 2264 g/yr 20 in and reduces carbon by 824 lbs per year.
Drupe
The Hackberry grows small dark red spherical drupes that turn purple in the fall, called a drupe. A drupe is a fruit with a pit and flesh surrounding it that is edible for both humans and animals. In the middle of the drupes are small nuts surrounded by a crunchy shell. Hackberry drupes are one of the first human eaten and stored foods.