How does hackberry care for us?

Hackberry is often heralded as “one tough tree.”  In urban environments they are often found as a street tree or volunteering in weedy edges or ruderal spaces.  Their reputation for toughness comes from their ability to thrive in drought or floods, strong winds or rains, polluted air or salt-inundated soils.  Their deep root system helps prevent soil erosion on disturbed sites as well as providing windbreak in protective shelterbelt plantings. Their wood is remarkably tough, shock resistant and flexible. 

Their plentiful fruit is food for countless wild lives from raccoons and bears to white-footed mice and wild turkeys. With a thin purple skin surrounding a tiny nut in a shell, their fruits are filled with fat, protein, carbohydrates, antioxidants, and vitamins. Hackberries have been eaten for millennia, perhaps one of the first known foods humans have stored.

One of the most unusual things about Hackberry is their bark: warty, lumpy, knobby, and very unusual in the tree family. The warts are actually outbursts of cork, a protective element.  Hackberry’s high concentration of cork creates a bark that is very protective from scorching by the sun or fire, drying by the wind, moisture from rain, and warding off fungal, insect and animal attacks.

Despite all of this incredible toughness, even the slightest hurt to his bark can surprisingly cause rot and decay inside their body. This tender vulnerability cause Hackberry to often not be long lived.  Hackberry trees that do live to an old age often live in protected places with fewer chances of insult or injury.