Common Hackberry
COMMON HACKBERRY
(Celtis occidentalis)
Shape round topped: to 120 ft. tall. Trunk slender. Branches spreading or pendulous. Bark light brown to silver gray, smooth until old age when broken into scales or warty knobs. Leaves lustrous and rough above, turning yellow in autumn; Fruit orange red to dark purple, with thin edible flesh and large stone. Range: N. C. to Kans. and n. to Que. and Man. This handsome tree has not much timber value; its leaves in the South are sometimes heavy and dark green. MISSISSIPPI HACKBERRY (Celtis laevigata) differs in its much narrower and longer leaves, the margins not toothed; fruits smaller. S. Ind. and Ill. through Ky., Tenn. and Ala. to s. Fla., Ark., Tex., Mex., and Bermuda. WESTERN HACKBERRY (Celtis reticulata) is a small tree with very veiny, thick leaves and orange fruits. Colo. and Tex. to Wash. and s. Calif.
Southern Chinquapin
SOUTHERN CHINQUAPIN
(Castanea pumila)
Bark light brown, furrowed with narrow cracks. Leaves 3-5 in. long, white-downy beneath, dull yellow in fall. Flowers in dangling white catkins. Fruit a spiny husk containing 1 small, sweet, brown nut. Range: e. Tex. to Mo. and up the Ohio to Pa. Also uplands from Ala. to Tenn. and Md. A mere shrub over much of its range, Chinquapin is a tree 50 ft. tall in the far South. The nuts are offered in the southern markets. CHESTNUT (Castanea dentata) has been almost annihilated by chestnut blight. GIANT CHINQUAPIN (Castanopsis chrysophylla) is similar but the leaves are shiny, evergreen, golden-downy beneath; catkins erect. A tree 50-115 ft. tall, with ruddy or gray, deeply furrowed bark. Cascades of Ore. to the outer Coast ranges of Calif.
Tanbark Oak