Sugarberry

Sugarberry (Celtis laevigata)

Sugar Hackberry, Southern Hackberry

Full to part sun, wet to moderately dry, extremely tolerant of clay, compaction, and periodic flooding, pH 5.5–8.0.

60–80 feet tall by 40–60 feet wide; blooms in early spring as leaves emerge with inconspicuous greenish flowers; fruit is a small, round drupe 0.6–0.8 cm, ripening orange-red to dark purple in October, persisting into winter.

Native region: Statewide, most common on bottomland floodplains and stream terraces throughout Middle and West Tennessee; frequent in low-lying areas of the I-65 corridor.

Celtis laevigata tolerates urban stress — compacted soil, reflected heat, drought, and standing water — better than nearly any large native tree, making it a common volunteer in disturbed sites across Maury County. The smooth to slightly ridged gray bark and lanceolate leaves (narrower than Celtis occidentalis) are the key identification features separating it from Hackberry. Witches'-broom, caused by a powdery mildew (Sphaerotheca phytoptophila) combined with eriophyid mite activity, produces characteristic dense twig clusters at branch tips — disfiguring but not lethal; UT Extension shade tree disease resources confirm this is typically cosmetic. Fruit production is heavy annually and is a critical food source for cedar waxwings, robins, and yellow-rumped warblers during fall migration along the Tennessee River and Cumberland Valley corridors.