This native tree grows large or small according to its habitat. Even small trees have the distinctively deep-furrowed gray bark (B). The alternate leaves are 2-4 inches long, lance-shaped. with sharp teeth (A). The inconspicuous flowers appear with the leaves in April (C). The spherical fruit, about 3/8th of an inch in diameter, has a stalk up to 1 inch long. The fruit is dark green by May and dark orange or purple by August (D,E).
Grows in woodlands, flowering in April. In Fontenelle Forest, common, for instance along Hackberry Trail. At Neale Woods, common along Hilltop Trail.
Hackberry saplings quickly populate newly opened woodland as a dense shrub. This may be seen where woodland ridges had been cleared in Fontenelle Forest to recreate oak savanna habitat.
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