Other Names: Southern Hackberry; Mississippi Hackberry.
Growth Form: Medium tree up to 75 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2½ feet; crown open and broad, with drooping branches.
Bark: Gray, with many conspicuous warts.
Twigs: Slender, gray or reddish-brown, smooth, sometimes zigzag; leaf scars alternate, usually crescent-shaped, slightly elevated, with 3 bundle traces.
Buds: Slender, pointed, smooth, brown or gray, up to ⅛ inch long.
Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades usually lance-shaped, long-pointed at the tip, tapering or rounded at the asymmetrical base, up to 6 inches long, less than half as broad, with few or no teeth along the edges, usually smooth or barely roughened on one or both surfaces; leafstalks up to ½ inch long, smooth or hairy.
Flowers: One to several in drooping clusters, appearing after the leaves are partly grown, greenish-yellow, without petals.
Fruit: Fleshy, ellipsoid to nearly round, reddish-orange to yellowish, about ¼ inch in diameter, with 1 seed, ripening in September or October, borne on slender, drooping stalks.
Wood: Heavy, soft, close-grained, pale yellow.
Uses: Fence posts, furniture.