Celtis sinensis Pers.

Chinese hackberry (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Rosales > Cannabaceae > Celtis

Characteristics

Trees, to 20 m tall, deciduous. Bark gray. Branchlets brown, brown pubescent, sometimes glabrescent late in season. Winter buds dark brown, 1-3 mm, glabrous or inconspicuously puberulent. Stipules linear to lanceolate, 3-5 mm, pubescent, fugacious. Petiole brown, 3-10 mm, pubescent, adaxially with a broad and shallow furrow; leaf blade ovate to ovate-elliptic, 3-10 × 3.5-6 cm, thickly papery, abaxially usually inconspicuously yellowish brown puberulent when young, abaxially with hairs scattered on major veins and sometimes tufted in vein axils with age, base rounded, obtuse, or obliquely truncate, ± symmetric to moderately oblique, margin subentire to crenate on apical half, teeth 0-16 on each side, apex acute to shortly acuminate; secondary veins 3 or 4 on each side of midvein. Flowers fascicled in leaf axils and stem bases. Style branches linear, undivided. Infructescences unbranched, 1(-3) per leaf axil, rather stout, pubescent at least proximally, 4-10 mm; fruiting pedicel 1-1.5 × as long as subtending petiole. Drupe ± globose, 5-7(-8) mm in diam. Stone white, ± globose, reticulately foveolate, ribbed. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. Sep-Oct.
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Tree to 20 m high. Leaves ovate; lamina 4–10 cm long, glabrous, acuminate, entire in lower half, serrate in upper half; base rounded, oblique; venation 3-veined at base; lateral veins 6–8; petiole 0.5–1 cm long; stipules not seen. Inflorescence 1–few-flowered. Bisexual flowers usually 1–3 together; perianth lobes broadly ovate, c. 2 mm long; stamens slightly exceeding perianth; ovary cylindrical to ovoid, 1.5–3 mm long; stigmatic arms mostly divergent. Drupe globose, 7–9 mm long, orange to black; pedicel 0.4–1 cm long.
A large tree which loses its leaves. It grows 18 m tall. It forks fairly low and the crown is broad and irregular. The bark is smooth and grey. The leaves are dark glossy green above and olive green underneath. They are one sided at the base and they taper to a tip. There are teeth along the edge. The fruit are yellow and turn orange then black.
Deciduous tree, 10-30 m high, bark smooth to warty, pale grey, twigs puberulous, lenticels conspicuous. Leaves bright to dark green, glossy above, hairless or softly hairy on underside. Inflorescence yellowish, small, axillary; buds glabrous. Fruit ellipsoid, dark orange when mature on long stalk.
Life form perennial
Growth form tree
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 5.75
Mature height (meter) 10.0 - 11.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) 0.1
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

A tropical and subtropical plant. It is hardy and tolerant of poor conditions. In China it grows between 100-1,500 m above sea level. It suits hardiness zones 8-12. Mt Lofty Botanical Gardens. In XTBG Yunnan. It grows in Sichuan.
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Wasteland, neglected gardens, has invaded rainforest, disturbed bushland, often beside creeks.
Lowland and hills all over Japan. Roadsides and slopes; at elevations from 100-1,500 metres.
Light 5-8
Soil humidity 2-7
Soil texture 3-5
Soil acidity 3-7
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 8-10

Usage

The ripe fruit are eaten fresh. The leaves are boiled and eaten with oil and salt. The insect galls which form on the tree in China are eaten.
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Has been planted as an ornamental and shade tree. See Rodd (1996), Spencer (1997).
Uses environmental use fiber material medicinal oil ornamental timber
Edible fruits leaves seeds
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants can be grown from seeds.
Mode cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -15
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Celtis sinensis leaf picture by Dieter Albrecht (cc-by-sa)
Celtis sinensis leaf picture by Dieter Albrecht (cc-by-sa)
Celtis sinensis leaf picture by Koji Nishiyama (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Celtis sinensis world distribution map, present in Australia, China, Japan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Korea (Democratic People's Republic of), Tajikistan, Taiwan, Province of China, United States of America, Viet Nam, and South Africa

Conservation status

Celtis sinensis threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:851171-1
WFO ID wfo-0000593746
COL ID 5XGKY
BDTFX ID 169069
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Sponia willdenowiana Celtis bodinieri Celtis labilis Celtis nervosa Celtis willdenowiana Celtis cercidifolia Celtis japonica Celtis sinensis Celtis hunanensis Celtis sinensis var. japonica Celtis bungeana var. pubipedicella Celtis tetrandra subsp. sinensis Celtis sinensis var. nervosa Celtis sinensis