Celtis labilis Schneid.

A deciduous tree 40 to 60 ft high, its trunk 3 to 6 ft in girth, the bark smooth and pale grey; young shoots yellowish, densely downy. Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, obliquely rounded at the base, the apex shortly but often slenderly pointed, rather coarsely toothed except towards the base; 11⁄2 to 4 in. long, half as much wide; dark glossy green and slightly downy above, duller and paler beneath. The pale-coloured veins are downy and the rest of the under-surface thinly downy or glabrous; stalk 1⁄8 to 1⁄3 in. long, very downy. Fruit orange-coloured, smooth, globose, scarcely 1⁄3 in. wide, produced in pairs or threes; fruit-stalks downy, 1⁄4 in. long.

Native of China in W. Hupeh and E. Szechwan; introduced by Wilson to the Arnold Arboretum in 1907 (No. 444), and to Kew the following year. Wilson remarks that it is easily recognised by the small, fruit-bearing branchlets dropping off in entirety when the fruits are ripe.