hackberry

hackberry

[′hak‚ber·ē]

(botany)

Celtis occidentalis. A tree of the eastern United States characterized by corky or warty bark, and by alternate, long-pointed serrate leaves unequal at the base; produces small, sweet, edible drupaceous fruit.

Any of several other trees of the genus Celtis.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

hackberry

hackberry

One of the oldest foraged foods, going back half a million years. Tiny berries 1/4 inch (.63cm) on tree from fall to spring. Orange-red when ripe. Berries are thin skin around large, hard seed. Seed is also edible. Skin can be sucked off, but best way to consume is to crush entire berries in mortar and pestle into a sweet delicious nutritious mush. This paste can be eaten raw or dried into a “food bar”. Seeds can be blended and strained into a milk just like almond milk. Tree bark is lumpy with wart-like growths all over it. Indians used hackberry for sore throats, colds and menstrual regulation.

Edible Plant Guide © 2012 Markus Rothkranz

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Hackberry

 

(Celtis), a genus of deciduous or more rarely evergreen trees of the family Ulmaceae. The leaves are asymmetrical and serrated, with three veins at the base. The blossoms are opaque and polygamous, with a simple five-membered perianth. The fruit is a drupe. There are about 50 species in tropical and arid regions of the temperate zones in the western and eastern hemispheres. In the USSR there are two species. Caucasian hackberry (C. caucasicd) is a tree up to 20 m tall with grayish green downy leaves that grows in the Caucasus and Middle Asia. Smooth hackberry (C. glabratd) is 4– m tall and grows on dry rocky slopes of the Crimea and Caucasus.

Hackberry is widely used for greenery and for protective for-estation, especially in arid regions. The fruit is edible; the leavesare used for animal fodder and the bark in tanning hides. Thewood is hard and durable; it is used in cabinetry, woodworking, and carving.

I. A. GRUDZINSKAIA

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.