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Common Hackberry

Celtis occidentalis

Good near homesKansas nativeMedium tree

The unsung native that shrugs off everything Kansas throws at it — clay, drought, wind, ice, and city soil. Not glamorous, genuinely dependable.

Height
40–60 ft
Spread
40–60 ft
Lifespan
100–150 yr
Growth
Moderate
Looking up the warty, corky bark of a mature hackberry into its green canopy

Identification

What to look at

Three features settle most identifications: the bark on the trunk, the leaf in your hand, and whatever the tree is dropping.

  • Hackberry leaves showing toothed edges and lopsided bases
    The leafToothed, tapering, and noticeably lopsided where the blade meets the stalk.
  • A single dark purple hackberry berry resting on a yellowing leaf
    The fruitA dark berry on its long stalk, ripening as the leaves turn gold. Birds strip them by winter.

How to identify it

  • Gray bark with distinctive warty, corky ridges
  • Lopsided, tapering leaves with toothed edges
  • Small purple berries that birds strip by winter
  • Broad crown with slightly drooping outer branches

Where it grows

Native range
Native throughout Kansas and across much of the eastern and central United States. Quietly one of the most consistently successful native trees in Kansas towns.
Soil
Tolerates essentially everything Kansas offers: heavy clay, high pH, drought, compaction, road salt, and periodic flooding.
Sunlight
Full sun to part shade
Drought & heat
High drought tolerance, high heat tolerance.

One of the best 'plant it and let it work' natives for Kansas yards. The leaf galls alarm new owners every summer; they're harmless.

Root behavior

Deep and well-behaved. Rarely implicated in lifted walks or damaged laterals, which is unusual for a tree this size.

Storm and branch-failure risk

Good. Sound wood and reasonable branch structure put it among the better large natives for Kansas wind and ice, though old trees carry deadwood that is worth clearing before storm season.

Overall storm resistance: Good. Assessing damage after a storm

Kansas pests and diseases

  • Hackberry nipple gall

    Cosmetic

    Small bumps covering the undersides of leaves, caused by a psyllid. Every summer this alarms new hackberry owners and every summer it means nothing. No treatment is needed.

  • Witches' broom

    Cosmetic

    Dense clusters of short, twiggy growth scattered through the crown, caused by a mite and fungus working together. Visible mostly in winter; harmless.

  • Hackberry woolly aphid

    Manageable

    Produces sticky honeydew that coats cars and patio furniture below, followed by black sooty mold. A nuisance rather than a threat to the tree.

Full profiles in the pest library

Photographs, seasonal timing, treatment options, and the point past which the tree cannot be saved.

Seeing something not listed here? Work from the symptom instead

Pruning

Best windowDormant season — November through February

Light structural pruning in the first decade to establish good scaffolds; very little needed after that. It is genuinely a plant-it-and-let-it-work tree.

Planting near homes

Good near homes

One of the better large trees to site near a Kansas home. Deep roots, sound wood, and real drought tolerance, with a crown that stays within a predictable footprint.

When removal may be necessary

  • Advanced trunk decay above a target, which is uncommon in this species
  • Major structural cracks after a storm

Removal is a judgment call about risk, not a formula. A tree with one of these conditions over open lawn is a very different situation from the same tree over a driveway — and that judgment needs someone on site.

Kansas Tree Guide is an independent educational resource. Nothing on this site replaces an on-site assessment by a qualified arborist or tree-care professional. Last reviewed August 2026.

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