# Id ths tree? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2014, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602 "2014-06-25T12:12:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/1 "2014-06-25T12:12:20Z")
Central South Carolina. They produce some sort of ‘fruit’ that somewhat resembles a crape myrtle fruit, although the tree doesn’t. The silvery disc in [the pic](http://s294.photobucket.com/user/badger60/media/tree_zps78e1431d.jpg.html) is an American ten-cent coin for comparison. ---
**Author:** ![newme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e0b2c6/32.png) [@newme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newme)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/2 "2014-06-25T16:20:12Z")
It looks to me like a hackberry or sugarberry, genus _Celtis_. I would be more confident in the id if I could see the bark or this year’s fruit. The fruit of a hackberry consists mainly of a single hard seed, like a small cherry pit. At this time of year, the fruit would be green. The bark of a hackberry is covered in cork-like warts. ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/3 "2014-06-25T16:51:50Z")
How tall is the tree? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/4 "2014-06-25T16:56:40Z")
Eh, probably 20 feet. Not more than about 10-12 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/5 "2014-06-25T19:14:58Z")
American persimmon? Diospyros virginiana. Also called simmon and possumwood. Doesn’t grow here in the west but the leaves of your plant look exactly like those of the cultivated Japanese persimmons (Diospyros kaki) that do. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/6 "2014-06-25T22:55:04Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > American persimmon? Diospyros virginiana. Also called simmon and possumwood. Doesn’t grow here in the west but the leaves of your plant look exactly like those of the cultivated Japanese persimmons (Diospyros kaki) that do. Not Haki… they are bred for larger fruit. The fruit size match to Virginiana . Natively found in the triangle from Texas to Connecticut to Florida… native to S. Carolina… More pictures would be required to be sure . But I guess Diospyros refers to the way it grows everywhere ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/7 "2014-06-25T23:43:04Z")
Slight hijack: I lived for a couple years (on and off) in the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. A common tree thre is _chicozapote_ – the sap produces the original chewing gum, and the fruit (_zapote_) is a sweet, dark brown ball with the consistency of a soft pear. There’s another, less common tree there whose fruit they call _zapote negro_ – “black zapote.” It’s quite different – the fruit is dark black, the consistency of a persimmon, and tastes like…well, like a persimmon! I thought to myself, “any chance this is a close relative of the orange persimmon seen in California and the Southeast US”? It turns out that, indeed, _zapote negro_ is another species of the genus _Diospyros_. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/8 "2014-06-25T23:47:41Z")
However, back to the OP, pending further info, I think that’s more likely a hackberry (_Celtis_). The OP’s leaves have partly toothed margins. Most hackberrys are more toothed than that, but some are just like that – and, I’m pretty sure all \*Diopsyros \*leaves are entire (no teeth). ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/9 "2014-06-25T23:57:01Z")
I’m guessing hackberry too, but hackberry’s have a distinctive [bark](http://0.tqn.com/d/forestry/1/0/D/i/twig_bark_hackbark.jpg). Does the trunk look like it’s got nipples? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/10 "2014-06-26T12:48:49Z")
[Bark is somewhat rugose toward the bottom](http://s294.photobucket.com/user/badger60/media/001_zpsc6960cf2.jpg.html#/user/badger60/media/001_zpsc6960cf2.jpg.html), not so much higher up. Also [the small branches](http://s294.photobucket.com/user/badger60/media/001_zpsc6960cf2.jpg.html#/user/badger60/media/002_zps22899967.jpg.html?&_suid=140378678856106397395748491279) from the main branches are somwhat spiky. ---
**Author:** ![newme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e0b2c6/32.png) [@newme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newme)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/11 "2014-06-26T17:20:05Z")
Now that we’ve seen the bark, it’s almost certainly a _Celtis_. Though I am no expert at distinguishing _C. occidentalis_ from _C. laevigata_, I would put my vote in for sugarberry - _Cercis laevigata_. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-ths-tree/691602/12 "2014-06-27T01:55:51Z")
Thanks, all.