#celtis occidentalis

[uxbridge]

Strawberry Hill cemetery in spring

[spatheandspadix]

Some tree trunks I enjoyed during field work last month: shagbark hickory, hackberry, honey locust

[dendroica]

Eastern Phoebe in a Hackberry tree (by me)

[susieandspacemanspiff]

Celtis occidentalis / common hackberry detail, at Antietam National Battlefield

[dendroica]

Northern Hackberry, Celtis occidentalis (by me)

[dendroica]

Hackberry bark (by me)

[headspace-hotel]

When I first tried a hackberry I thought it was gross because it tastes like a fig newton and I hate those. I learned a while back that Native Americans would grind them up, seed and all to make a sort of fruity nutty energy bar type of deal. So I tried just popping the whole berry in my mouth and crunching up the seed, and it's actually really good like that!

I looked up recipes to use them in and the website I found was like "the texture isn't for everyone...here's some ways you can reduce how crunchy they are...I know it's weird that they're so crunchy..." You Fool! The Extreme Crunch is the best part! The seed inside makes them sooooooo crunchy it's like eating ice cubes without the pain. It's not at all hard and difficult to bite through it's just Super Crunchy

I think i will put them in my yogurt tomorrow morning

[meg-megbanom-ezt]

It's that time of the year again

...the time when feral pigeons in the cities (and right now I mean Budapest) do elaborate gymnastics to reach the remaining hackberries (Celtis occidentalis) at the top of the smallest twigs, as the conveniently available ones were already eaten. I saw it in the morning and as every time, this made me smile (and not necessarily in a Schadenfreude way. They look silly but I appreciate their efforts). Artistic rendition: