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Celtis L. (Cannabaceae)

A genus of eight to ten species of trees and shrubs; of temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

Three species occur in North Carolina, all are native to the state.

Key to Celtis in North Carolina

1. Leaf blades mostly > 2× as long as wide, the tip attenuate and long-acute to long-acuminate, the base cuneate to rounded; leaf margins entire or with a few teeth on each margin; leaves glabrous or nearly so (except the margins often ciliate); [large trees, mostly of floodplains, but also in upland situations over calcareous substrates such as limestone, dolostone, and shell middens]...C. laevigata (Southern hackberry)

1. Leaf blades mostly < 2× as long as wide, the tip obtuse to short-acuminate, the base slightly to strongly cordate at least on one side; leaf margins entire or with a few teeth on each margin (the plant then a shrub or small tree of rocky places) or distinctly serrate with 10-35 teeth on each margin; leaves scabrous above, at least toward the tip; [shrubs to medium trees, of floodplains, moist slopes, and dry rocky woodlands, barrens, and glades]...2.

2. Leaves 5-12 cm long, toothed well below the middle; fruit 7-14 mm long, ellipsoid or subglobose, dark orange, purple, or black, on a pedicel 7-25 mm long; [small to medium trees of dry to moist habitats]...C. occidentalis (Northern hackberry)

2. Leaves 2-8 cm long, toothed only near the tip if at all; fruit 5-9 mm long, subglobose or essentially spherical, orange, red, or brown, on a pedicel 3-13 mm long; [shrubs or small twisted trees of dry, rocky habitats]...C. tenuifolia (Dwarf hackberry)