The European hackberry ( Celtis australis), a species in the Cannabaceae family, is a deciduous tree widely distributed in temperate regions, native to southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor. Its most common name in Spanish is Almez, which comes from the Arabic al-mȧys , meaning tree. In 1796, the hackberry was introduced to Great Britain.
The Hackberry (celtis australis)
This Almez tree generally grows isolated in loose soils and with good humidity, since it does not usually form groups of a single species of trees. It is found in ravines, near streams or slopes, away from riverbanks. It is part of the tree species of the Mediterranean fertile plain forests, or hydrophilic poplar groves, along with elm, oak, poplar, mulberry or shade plane trees and other trees from temperate climates.
It is native to Central Europe and the Mediterranean basin, it is a naturalized tree due to its widespread cultivation in different countries of the temperate regions of the planet. It is cultivated in countries of the Mediterranean region and the southwest of the Asian continents, it is used as an ornamental tree in landscaping of parks and gardens, as well as boulevards for being resistant to environmental pollution. Its wood is used to make tool accessories.
Its leaves and fruits are widely used for its medicinal properties and its bark occasionally. The consumption of its fruit or infusions based on its green fruits, with a certain frequency helps with digestive inconveniences and to reduce dysentery and inflammation of the intestines. It also serves as a digestive tonic, antidiarrheal and to regulate menstrual flow.
Medicinal properties
Biochemical analyses of the leaves of the European hackberry ( Celtis australis) revealed the presence of flavonoid C-glycosides. Furthermore, populations of Celtis australis trees growing in northern Italy were found to contain a higher concentration of phenols per gram of dry leaf weight. These analyses also determined that these levels fluctuated, affecting the quantities of caffeic acid derivatives and flavonoids.
Contains tannins and mucilage as active ingredients. Its leaves are used to prepare infusions and use them as astringents, to control diarrhea and control bleeding. This infusion prepared with the leaves and also its fruits of the Hackberry, serve as a remedy for dysentery, and also to control the menstrual flow. The infusion is prepared with the green fruits, which are collected when they are still immature, approximately in June.
Frequent consumption of its fruits and infusion of its fruits and leaves is indicated to improve digestion problems, intestinal inflammation, and other diseases of the digestive system. It is used by women who have irregular menstruation problems, control excessive bleeding during the period, and reduce menstrual cramps.
How it is used
Infusion . The measure is half a cup of hackberry fruit or leaves added to half a liter of water. Once mixed, bring to a boil and then let cool. Once cool, drink throughout the day. It helps prevent dysentery.
Fruit consumption. Most people consume it this way; the tannins it contains help with digestive issues and also regulate the menstrual cycle. It is a fruit with few nutrients and vitamins.
Hackberry Description
It is known by other common names such as lodón, lodoño, latonero, aligonero, nettle tree, among others. It is a tree with deciduous leaves that can measure from 20 to 25 meters in height, even individuals of about 40 meters in height and 10 meters in colder regions have been reported. Its trunk is straight and the color of its bark is gray, its texture is smooth, without grooves, similar to the bark of ficus or beech trees. Its glass is round and extensive.
It has simple and alternate leaves, they are 5 to 15 centimeters long, petiolate and ovate in shape, with serrated edges and ending in an elongated or acuminate point. The upper side has pubescent hairs and is gray or dark green almost all year round and the lower side is light green with hairiness on its nerves. When autumn arrives, its leaves turn yellow. They have expired stipules.
Its monoecious flowers bloom early in the spring season, simultaneously with the development of its leaves. The flowers are pentamerous, monoclamideous, with 5 deciduous sepals. The female flowers are more rounded and greenish yellow. The masculine ones are longer and thinner.
Its fruits are fleshy drupes one centimeter in diameter, leaden gray in color and their interior is yellow when ripe. These grow solitary supported by the peduncle in the axils of their leaves. The Almez tree flowers in spring and its fruits mature in the summer and autumn seasons. Its fruits are edible and with an appetizing flavor, the sweetness of its fruit makes it similar to that of the date.
Habitat and Cultivation
It can reproduce asexually by cuttings or slips and sexually by seeds. It adapts to poor soils with good moisture and porosity. It grows in stony, calcareous, or siliceous soils. The hackberry tree is used in soil conservation projects to stabilize degraded land. It is a very long-lived tree, reaching up to 600 years of age. The sweet taste of its fruits makes them attractive to various birds and to the larvae of the moth * Hestina persimilis*.
It adapts to drought and direct sunlight. The Mediterranean climate is conducive to the hackberry tree, but it also responds to cooler limes, USDA Zone 7B. Hackberry trees are frequently seen in Spain on the Mediterranean slope of Andalusia and Extremadura, and to a lesser extent in Aragon and Castilla La Mancha. Specimens are also observed in the fertile plains of the southeast near Madrid and thus in other Spanish provinces.
Taxonomy and Etymology
The genus Celtis comes from the Latin word *celtis*, meaning "of the south." This name was given by the Romans to the European hackberry (Celtis australis), as well as to the lotus tree. According to Pliny the Elder, this name was the name of the lotus tree in Africa ( Natural History , 13, 104, as *Celthis *). Some interpreters believe this refers to the jujube tree ( *Ziziphus jujuba* Mill.) of the Rhamnaceae family, while others identify it as the European hackberry ( *Celtis australis* L.). The Latin epithet or species name *australis* means "southern."
Infraspecific taxa . According to botanical classification, infraspecific taxa are assigned a classification or rank lower than that of species, such as subspecies or varieties. For the species Celtis australis , the subspecies Celtis australis subsp. caucasica (Willd.) CCTowns. in Fl. Iraq, 4,(1): 73, 1980, was determined .
Synonyms. These are the different scientific names assigned by botanical taxonomists at different times and classifications.
- celtis eriocarpa Decne. in Jacquem.
- Caucasian celtis Willd.
- celtis acuta Buch.-Ham.
- excellent celtis salisb. name illegal.
- alpine celtis Royle
- celtis australis there. eriocarp (Decne.) Hook.f.
- celtis australis f. variegate Schelle former Geerinck
- celtis kotschyana Steven
- celtis lutea Pers.
- Celtis Serrata dippel14
subsp. caucasica (Willd.) CCTowns.
- celtis arcata Buch.-Ham. former Wall.
- Caucasian celtis Willd.
- Caucasian celtis there. caudata Iron.
- Caucasian celtis subsp. caudata (Ironch.) Grudz.
- celtis inglisii Royle
different common names
This hackberry tree ( Celtis australis ) has many common or vernacular names depending on where it grows. It is known by names in Spanish, English, Catalan, German, French, Arabic, Turkish, Polish, and other languages. These names include:
The most used names in Spain are: alatonero, aligonero, hackberry, leaf, latonero; lidonero; dormouse; lodon; muddy In addition to these there are many more names assigned to name this tree. Likewise, in other languages they also have their common name, for example in Albanian they call it carac; in Arabic الميس (mays); in Catalan: lledoner; in the English language: blackberry tree, common hackberry, clam, nettle, Mediterranean clam. Among many other names.
Hackberry Uses
Due to the sweet flavor of its fruits similar to that of dates, they are used to prepare jams. With their wood they carry out turning works, with their wood they also make whips and whips. They also make walking sticks with their wood. When they are young, their branches are used to produce wooden pitchforks and to work with straw and corn.
As a tree, it is used in landscaping projects for gardens, parks, parking lots, and urban trees, as it is a long-lived species that is resistant to contamination. From its bark a dye used to dye yellow is extracted.
History and Curiosities
The rich, sweet flavor of the fruit, as well as its medicinal properties, was already highlighted by Herodotus, Dioscorides, and Theophrastus, who, in ancient times, referred to this species, Celtis australis , as the lotus. In Book IX of the Odyssey, Homer recounts how Odysseus refers to the "lotus-eaters" and also to the "lotus" itself. The poem "The Lotus-Eaters," written by Tennyson, describes the effects of consuming its fruit.
They are long-lived trees used in squares and streets, in front of the chapel of the Perché village of Fox-Amphoux in Provence in the southern region of France, a tree has been planted since 1550. In 2013 this hackberry tree, averaged 5 meters in height. diameter its trunk and 18 meters high.
In Castellón de la Plana, a chapel was built in the name of La Mare de Deu del Lledó (Almez), for being the patron saint of this town. According to legend, the image of the Virgin that is in the chapel was found among the hackberry trees (in Valencian “lledoners”) by the farmer or “llaurator” (in Valencian) Perot de Granyana.
In Madrid, the coat of arms and a town named Torrelodones (Tower of the Lodones or Hackberry Trees) feature a hackberry tree. Historians believe the tree depicted on Madrid's coat of arms may be a hackberry, rather than a strawberry tree. A large specimen of this species, Celtis australis , or hackberry, is planted in the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, standing tall and impressive compared to other specimens of the same species in the garden.
The Lotophagous people. Named for the first time in the "Odyssey" on the return from Troy, when by a gust of wind the ships were diverted towards the lands of the lotus-eaters or lotus-eaters. Which according to historians is the Lotus tree is the Hackberry itself.
You liked it, so I invite you to read also: