Celtis occidentalis

Shrub or broad-crowned tree to c. 20 m high. Bark rough, fissured, often with corky ridges, grey. Leaves obliquely ovate, mostly 5-15 cm long, usually more than half as wide as long; apex abruptly acuminate; base rounded to truncate or shallowly cordate; margins serrate or bi-serrate, usually entire below widest part of leaf; upper surface with scattered tubercle-based hairs, or glabrous with tubercles only; lower surface pilose along veins and veinlets only, rarely glabrous; main lateral veins more or less straight; petiole 1-2 cm long. Perianth lobes 5 or 6, free, obovate to ovate, entire or irregularly toothed near apex, membranous, 2.5-3.5 mm long. Male flowers in few-flowered clusters in lower axils of inflorescence, anthers c. 2 mm long, wtih short, but distinct filaments. Bisexual flowers solitary in upper axils; paired stigmatic lobes 3-4 mm long, ascending to spreading. Drupe globose, c. 8 mm diam., maturing from green through orange to deep reddish-purple; fruiting pedicel to 2 cm long. Flowers early spring; fruits ripen late summer to autumn.