# Sugarberry (Celtis laevigata)

> The hackberry of southern bottomlands, a fast shade tree for wet or dry ground, with warty gray bark and sweet fruit that birds eat into winter.

Also called sugar hackberry, southern hackberry, lowland hackberry, Texas sugarberry, palo blanco, Celtis mississippiensis. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sugarberry/

![Sugarberry (Celtis laevigata) warty gray trunk rising into a spring crown of fresh green leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/sugarberry-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Richard Murphy, CC BY-SA 3.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASugarberry_Celtis_laevigata_2009-04-05.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Large tree
- Mature height: 50 to 80 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 10
- Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, stream banks, old fields and edges
- Native range: 20 states and the District of Columbia, north to Ohio, south to Florida and west to Texas (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia). Also recorded in 10 other states, outside its native range
- Sun: Full, Part, Shade
- Soil moisture: Average, Wet, Dry
- Growth rate: Fast
- Traits: Wildlife value, Drought tolerant, Tolerates wet soil, Edible, Tolerates shade, Winter interest, Street tree
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Sugarberry is the southern cousin of common hackberry, a broad shade tree of river bottoms and clay flats. Next to common hackberry its leaves are narrower with mostly smooth edges, its fruit is juicier and sweeter, and its bark is less corky. At least 10 kinds of birds eat the fruit. Hackberry emperor, tawny emperor and American snout caterpillars feed on the leaves. Some southern cities plant it on their streets, and others ban it. Ohio, at the north edge of its range, lists it as endangered. In winter the bare tree shows off silvery bark dotted with warts. Plant it as a shade tree for a big lawn, a park or a wide street strip.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Sugarberry grows fast, nearly three feet a year in our growth estimator. Expect 50 to 80 feet with a crown 50 to 80 feet wide. Forest trees often reach 80 to 100 feet, but few live past 150 years.

Small greenish flowers open with the new leaves, from March to May depending on latitude. The fruit, a quarter to half an inch across, ripens orange-red to deep purple in September and October and often hangs on until midwinter. Trees bear at about 15 years and give good crops most years. Wild turkeys favor the sweet fruit in fall and winter.

It grows wild from southeastern Virginia to southern Florida and central Texas, and north to southern Kansas, southern Illinois and western Kentucky. Some references count the West's netleaf hackberry as a variety of sugarberry, so its range map runs to Washington.

## How to grow Sugarberry

Sugarberry grows best in full sun on moist, fertile soil, and it takes part shade. It grows in clay, sand or loam, and once established it stands drought. It takes wet ground and brief flooding, though its seedlings do not stand flooding. Avoid very alkaline soil, where the leaves turn yellow. Plant it 30 feet from a wall and more than 50 feet from overhead wires, and set trees 40 feet apart. Keep it away from patios and walks, where the dropped fruit makes a mess.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Rub the pulp off the seed, which stores dry and cold. Sow it outdoors in fall, half an inch deep under a bird screen. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for 60 to 90 days first.

Water weekly through the first summer. Prune several times over the first 15 years to keep one leader and avoid weak forks. The wood seals off wounds poorly and rots behind them, so keep mowers off the bark and never cut big limbs from the trunk.

Sugarberry carries male and female flowers on the same tree, with a few that carry both parts, and the wind pollinates it, so one tree bears alone. Nipple galls on the leaves are common and do no harm, and it resists witches' broom. Watch for the Asian woolly hackberry aphid and scale. Mistletoe favors it, and ice storms break its limbs.

## Sources

- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: sugarberry (Kennedy 1990)](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/sugarberry)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Celtis laevigata (Sullivan 1993)](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/cellae/all.html)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual: Celtis chapter (Bonner)](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Celtis.pdf)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Celtis laevigata](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500332)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Celtis laevigata](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/celtis-laevigata/)
- [University of Florida IFAS Extension, ENH297/ST138: Celtis laevigata: Sugarberry](https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ST138)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Celtis laevigata](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=287403&isprofile=1)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Celtis laevigata](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CELA)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet: sugarberry (Houck and Anderson 2009)](https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/factsheet/pdf/fs_cela.pdf)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online: Celtis laevigata, from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/celtis/celtis-laevigata/)
- [Florida Native Plant Society: Celtis laevigata](https://www.fnps.org/plant/celtis-laevigata)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Celtis laevigata](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.151026/Celtis_laevigata)
- [Ohio Department of Natural Resources: Rare Native Ohio Plants, 2024-25 Status List](https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/odnr/natural-areas/2024-25_Ohio_Rare_Native_Plants_Status_List_FINAL_draft.pdf)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Six trees not to plant near a house, and what to plant instead](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/trees-not-to-plant-near-a-house/index.html.md)
- [Pruning at the branch collar, and when to make the cut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/pruning-at-the-branch-collar/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Sugarberry, add ?species=sugarberry with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=sugarberry&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Sugarberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=sugarberry): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=sugarberry
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Sugarberry is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=sugarberry
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Sugarberry needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=sugarberry:1
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Sugarberry flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.