Sugarberry (SPC Florida Plants )

Sugarberry

Celtis laevigata

Summary ⁴

Sugarberry is a very large, broad, fast growing deciduous North American native tree that has a rounded vase crown with spreading, pendulous branches. The sugarberry grows on stream banks, river bottoms, and moist alluvial flats of clay and silt loam. It may occur in pure stands but usually occurs as an occasional tree in association with many other hardwood species. The sugarberry reaches 50 to 80 ft. in height with a straight, 2 to 3 ft. in diameter, short trunk. Sugarberry can be easily recognized by its bark, which is covered with wart-like bumps, and gray-brown to silvery gray, thin and smooth. Leaves are simple, alternate, and deciduous. The leaves are 2 to 5 in. long, 1 to 3 in. wide, oval to elliptical-shaped. The leaves taper to an acute apex and have wedge-shaped or asymmetrically rounded leaf bases. Leaf margins are entire or with a few teeth near the leaf apex. Leaf surfaces are light green, smooth, or occasionally rough above, paler and smooth below. Light green leaves turn bright yellow in fall and can be showy in some years. Petioles are slender and smooth, about 1/3 in. long. Sugarberry flowers in spring with very small, 1/8 in. wide, greenish-white flowers. The fruit is a red to black, one-seeded drupe about ¼ inch in length with a thick skin and a thin layer of flesh. Each fruit is found on short stalks at the base of the leaf. The leaves of the sugarberry contain allelopathic chemicals. As they fall and litter the ground around the tree, these chemicals inhibit nearby seed germination and growth of many other plant species.

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Range Map

iNat Map

Ecosystem	Interior swamps
Leaf arrangement	Alternate
Leaf shape	Elliptic
Leaf type	Simple
Fruit	Black, Red

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