Celtis sinensis (English: Japanese hackberry, Chinese hackberry; Chinese: 朴树; Japanese: 榎) is a species of flowering plant in the hemp family, Cannabaceae, that is native to slopes in East Asia.

Description

It is a tree that grows to 20 m tall, with deciduous leaves and gray bark. The fruit is a globose drupe, 5–7(–8) mm in diameter. Flowering occurs in March–April, and fruiting in September–October, in the Northern hemisphere.

Distribution, habitat and uses

Native to slopes at altitudes of 100–1500 m in Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Henan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Zhejiang, Sichuan, as well as Korea (팽나무), Japan and Taiwan. Leaves and bark are used in Korean medicine to treat menstruation and lung abscess. It is a naturalized non-invasive species in North America. It is a declared noxious weed in many parts of eastern Australia, where its seeds are spread by birds, fruit bats and water in riparian zones, roadsides, urban bushland, open woodlands, rainforest margins, waste areas, disturbed sites, parks and gardens, in sub-tropical and warm temperate regions. As an ornamental plant, it is used in classical East Asian garden design.