''Celtis australis'', the European nettle tree, European hackberry, Mediterranean hackberry, lote tree, southern nettle tree, or honeyberry, is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

tree native to Southern Europe, North Africa, and

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. The tree was introduced to England in 1796.Hillier Nurseries Ltd. (1977). ''Hilliers' Manual of Trees & Shrubs, 4th edition'', p.70. David & Charles, Newton Abbott, UK.

Description

The tree can grow to 25 m in height, though 10 m is more common in cooler climates. The bark is smooth and grey, almost elephantine.More, D. & White, J. (2003).''Trees of Britain & Northern Europe'', p. 417. Cassells, London. . The alternate leaves are narrow and sharp-toothed, rugose above and tomentose below, 5–15 cm long and dark grey/green throughout the year, fading to a pale yellow before falling in autumn. The apetalous wind-pollinated flowers are perfect (hermaphrodite, having both male and female organs), small and green, either singly or in small clusters. The fruit is a small, dark-purple berry-like

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

, 1 cm wide, hanging in short clusters. They are edible and are extremely popular with birds and other wildlife.

History

''Celtis australis'' is supposed to have been the Lotus of the ancients, whose fruit

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides (, ; 40–90 AD), "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of (in the original , , both meaning "On Materia medica, Medical Material") , a 5-volume Greek encyclopedic phar ...

, and

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...

describe as sweet, pleasant, and wholesome.

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

has Ulysses refer to the "

Lotus-eaters In Greek mythology, lotophages or the lotus-eaters () were a race of people living on an island dominated by the lotus tree off coastal Tunisia (Island of Djerba), a plant whose botanical identity is uncertain. The Lotophagi race in the ''Odyss ...

" and the "lotus" in ''Odyssey, Book IX''. It is often planted as an ornamental as it is long-living and resistant to air pollution. The fruit of this tree is sweet and edible, and can be eaten raw or cooked. The leaves and fruit are astringent, lenitive, and stomachic. Decoction of both leaves and fruit is used in the treatment of amenorrhoea, heavy menstrual and inter-menstrual bleeding, and colic. The decoction can also be used to astringe the mucous membranes in the treatment of

diarrhea Diarrhea (American English), also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa (British English), is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements in a day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration d ...

dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...

, and peptic ulcers. A yellow dye is obtained from the bark. The wood is very tough, pliable, durable, and widely used by turners; the flexible, thin shoots are used as walking sticks.

Cultivation

The plant prefers light well-drained (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils, including those nutritionally poor; it can tolerate drought but not shade. The

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

is especially suitable for the plant but it can tolerate colder climate (USDA Zone 7B). An article on Nettle tree cultivation is brought down in

Ibn al-'Awwam Ibn al-'Awwam (), also called Abu Zakariya Ibn al-Awwam (), was an Al-Andalus agriculturist who flourished at Seville (modern-day southern Spain) in the later 12th century. He wrote a lengthy handbook on agriculture entitled in Arabic '' Kitāb al ...

's 12th-century agricultural work, ''Book on Agriculture''. Trade names for the species include nettle wood and brimji.

Notable trees

A large specimen planted in 1550 stands before the church in the village perché of Fox-Amphoux in the

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

region of southern France. The tree was 18 m in height with a circumference at breast height of 5 m in 2013. Barjols2013 016

In Islamic tradition, hackberry trees are considered holy and amulets made from their wood are employed to exorcise demons. The hackberry trees on the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount (), also known as the Noble Sanctuary (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, 'Haram al-Sharif'), and sometimes as Jerusalem's holy esplanade, is a hill in the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem that has been venerated as a ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

are said to be the oldest in the world. The fruit and its effects are described in Tennyson's poem ''The Lotos-Eaters''.

Secondary metabolites

The leaves of ''Celtis australis'' are a rich source of

flavonoid Flavonoids (or bioflavonoids; from the Latin word ''flavus'', meaning yellow, their color in nature) are a class of polyphenolic secondary metabolites found in plants, and thus commonly consumed in the diets of humans. Chemically, flavonoids ...

C-glycosides. Young leaves of ''Celtis australis'' from Northern Italy were found to contain the highest amounts of phenolics per gram dry weight. Amounts rapidly decreased until mid-May and after this date the level of phenolics fluctuated but showed no discernible trend. This general trend of high amounts of phenolics in the early growing season and a fast decline affected both

caffeic acid Caffeic acid is an organic compound with the formula . It is a polyphenol with a key role in scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated in energy metabolism. Caffeic acid is also one major polyphenol responsible for maintaining normal le ...

derivatives and

Gallery

File:Muntic_ladonja.jpg, In Muntić, Croatia, planted in the early 16th century. File:Celtis australis NP.JPG, In Panchkhal, Nepal File:Flower of Celtis australis NP.JPG, Flower File:Celtis australis-StSauveur-4925~2015 10 31.JPG, Autumn leaves

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q255375 australis Flora of the Mediterranean basin Trees of Mediterranean climate Trees of Africa Trees of Asia Trees of Europe Flora of North Africa Flora of Southwestern Europe Flora of Southeastern Europe Flora of Western Asia Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Plants described in 1753