Celtis occidentalis

The common hackberry is in the cannabis or Cannabaceae family and is native to North America from southern Ontario and Quebec, through to parts of New England, south to North Carolina (Appalachia), west to northern Oklahoma, and north to South Dakota.

• Leaves are deciduous, simple, alternate, ovate, 12 cm long and 6 cm across, distinctly asymmetrical at the base, and coarse-textured, taper-pointed and toothed, smooth above and hairy below. The base of the leaf has 3 veins which curve gradually towards the tip of the leaf. The leaves turn yellow in the fall.
• Species is monoecious. Male and female flowers are small and green, without petals.
• Fruit is round berry-like drupe, edible, turning orange-red to dark purple in the autumn and often staying on the tree for several months.
• Twigs are zigzag with lenticels, and have chambered piths at the nodes.