NETTLE

See also:

• TREE (0. Eng. treo, treow, cf. Dan. tree, Swed. Odd, tree, trd, timber; allied forms are found in Russ. drevo, Gr. opus, oak, and 36pv, spear, Welsh derw, Irish darog, oak, and Skr. dare, wood)
• TREE, SIR HERBERT BEERBOHM (1853- )

TREE  , the name applied to certain trees of the genus Celtis, belonging to the family or natural order Ulmaceae . The best-known species have usually obliquely ovate, or lanceolate leaves, serrate at the edge, and marked by three prominent nerves . The flowers are inconspicuous, usually hermaphrodite, with a 4- or 5-parted perianth, as many stamens, a hairy disk and a 1-celled ovary with a 2-parted style . The fruit is succulent like a little drupe, a character which serves to separate the genus alike from the nettles and the elms, to both of which it is allied . Celtis australis is a common tree, both wild and planted, through-out the Mediterranean region extending to Afghanistan and the Himalayas; it is also cultivated in Great Britain . It is a rapidly growing tree, from 30 to 40 ft. high, with a remarkably sweet fruit, recalling a small black cherry, and was one of the plants to which the term " lotus " was applied by Dioscorides and the older authors . The wood, which is compact and hard and takes a high polish, is used for a variety of purposes . C. occidentalis, a North American species, is the hackberry (q.v.) .