VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Celtis laevigata | Sugarberry 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
The wood of sugarberry is close grained, soft, and of medium strength.
It is used mostly for furniture but also is used for dimension stock,
flooring, crating, fuel, cooperage, and fence posts [5,59].


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
The fruits of sugarberry are eaten by many birds, including the
ring-necked pheasant, waterfowl, quail, and ruffed grouse.  They are a
preferred food of turkeys in fall and winter.  Squirrels occasionally
eat the fruit, and will also consume buds and bark, but do so rarely.
Other game and nongame animals consume the fruit.  Cattle will browse
sugarberry heavily, especially in winter on poor ranges [12].
White-tailed deer will browse sugarberry, but it has a low preference
rating [4,8].


PALATABILITY : 
NO-ENTRY


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
A study of the nutritional value of a number of fruits and nuts included
sugarberry fruits in the following analysis [49].  This study reported
only the combined averages for particular types of fruits and nuts.  The
following data are percentages of dry weight for all fleshy fruits
tested, except for crude fat which is the average for drupes only:

crude protein                8.4
crude fat                   14.2
crude fiber                 24.1
estimated true 
dry matter digestibility    64.4


COVER VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
NO-ENTRY


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Sugarberry is planted as an ornamental and as a street tree [5].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
In dense even-aged stands, sugarberry will self-prune and produce a
straight stem [5].

In cottonwood (Populus spp.) stands on alluvium, sugarberry (usually
with poor growth forms) will take over openings created when cottonwoods
are cut, and control sites that managers would prefer to be in more
valuable species [30].  On a site that was logged then seeded with Nuttall
oak (Quercus nuttallii), sugarberry (probably carried in by animals)
naturally established in sufficient numbers to make up one of four species
accounting for 83 percent of stems [33,39].

Sugarberry is susceptible to damage by ice, which breaks main stems and
branches [5].

Defoliation of sugarberry by hackberry butterfly (Asterocampa celtis)
has been reported, though no tree death or crown die-back was observed.
Hackberry butterfly can be controlled by spraying trees with
insecticides [5].

Sugarberry is used as an ornamental, even though leaf leachate can
reduce growth of grasses under the trees due to the presence of ferulic,
caffeic, and p-coumaric acids [5].

Good stands of sugarberry are able to establish naturally after logging
[22].  In a study of logging practices in Mississippi, sugarberry
reached the highest densities in regeneration after all sawtimber-sized
stems were removed and either all stems greater than 2 inches in d.b.h.
(5 cm) were injected with 2,4-D or stems of desirable species left
untreated with 2,4-D.  Sugarberry was considered a desirable species in
this study [29].  Seven years after clearcutting on a site where
sugarberry was a canopy dominant, sugarberry accounted for 32 percent of
total regeneration stems [23].  After patch clearcutting, sugarberry
dominated both sapling and seedling regeneration on a site where, prior
to harvest, it had been second in basal area (after sweetgum) [25].

Sugarberry has no major diseases of the twigs and leaves, but eastern
mistletoe (Phoradendron flavescens) may cause serious damage in the
western part of sugarberry's range [5].

Related categories for Species: Celtis laevigata | Sugarberry