Celtis tenuifolia, the Dwarf Hackberry or Georgia Hackberry is a shrub or small tree 2 to 12 meters high. It is native to eastern North America, but is very uncommon north of the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

. In Canada, dwarf hackberry is designated as threatened and protected under Canada's Species at Risk Act

Species at Risk Act

The Species at Risk Act is a piece of Canadian federal legislation which became law in Canada on December 12, 2002. It is designed to meet one of Canada's key commitments under the International Convention on Biological Diversity. The goal of the Act is to protect endangered or threatened...

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Characteristics

The leaves are alternate, simple, blades 5 to 7 centimeters long, and 2 to 3.5 centimeters in width, shallowly toothed, and finely hairy. The winter buds are brown and hairy, similar to those of other hackberries, but smaller, only 1 to 2 centimeters long. Terminal buds absent.

Flowers are monecious and unisexual, occurring either solitarily or in small clusters. This species is wind-pollinated and appears to be self-compatible.

The fruit is a berry-like drupe

Drupe

In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...

, 5 to 8 millimeters in diameter, consisting of a single stone encased within a thin, sweet mesocarp. This edible mesocarp is composed of a purplish-brown smooth outer crust and a pulpy yellow inside.

Ecology and Uses

Dwarf hackberry is shade intolerant, drought tolerant and slow-growing. It grows in dry upland habitats, including open woodlands, alvars

Alvars

The alwar or azhwars were Tamil poet saints of south India who lived between the sixth and ninth centuries A.D. and espoused ‘emotional devotion’ or bhakti to Visnu-Krishna in their songs of longing, ecstasy and service. Sri Vaishnava orthodoxy posits the number of alvars as ten, though there are...

, and sandy near-shore habitats. It is usually not found among other hackberries, although when other hackberry species occur in proximity to dwarf hackberry, intermediate forms may occur.

Dispersal is primarily by birds although mammals are attracted by the sweet fruit and likely play a role in local dispersal.