common hackberry

Photo: Chhe (talk) — Public domain · source

Survives zone 3 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Hackberry — thin, sweet, date-like pulp on a hard seed.

Hardiness

Zone 3–9

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Seed, Fruit

Ripens

Autumn

Mature size

Large tree 12–20 m, occasionally to 30 m — not containerable

Light

Full sun to partial

Soil pH

6.0–8.0 (lime-tolerant)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Eastern and central North America — Quebec west to Manitoba, south to North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma; floodplains, river banks and open woods.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

5–8 yrs

Growth speed

30–60 cm/year — medium to fast in youth on good ground, slowing with age.

Spacing

900 cm (354 in) apart — about 81 m² (872 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Alternate, ovate to oblong-ovate, 5–13 cm long, rough-textured above, with a strongly asymmetric base and a coarsely toothed margin from about mid-leaf to the drawn-out tip; widest in the basal half.

Root system

Deep-rooting where soil allows, reaching 3–6 m on good ground, though a strong taproot forms only occasionally; on heavy or poorly drained soils the roots run laterally and stay shallow instead.

Fruit description

Round, pea-sized drupes 7–10 mm across on slender stalks, ripening orange-red then deep purple-brown; thin sweet date-like flesh over a large hard stone, persisting on bare branches well into winter.

Propagation

Seed is the standard route — clean the pulp off, then cold stratify moist for 60–90 days at about 4°C before spring sowing, or sow outdoors in autumn and let winter do the chilling.

Pollination

Wind-pollinated and polygamo-monoecious — male, female and perfect flowers all borne on the same tree — so a single specimen sets fruit with no partner needed. No insect pollinators are involved.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.