Celtis tala, known as Tala, is a medium size deciduous tree, native to tropical and subtropical South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. With small to medium sized spines, its one of the main components of the Gran Chaco

Gran Chaco

The Gran Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semi-arid lowland region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, where it is connected with the Pantanal region...

 pairies and certain areas of the argentinian

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 pampa.

Morphology

The tala is a medium to large sized tree, sometimes reaching 12m high. According to water availability it may become arboreus or shrubby. It prefers dry or slightly moist, well drained soil. When arboreus the trunk is rather tortuous, nearing 40cm in diameter. When shrubby, it produces several branched trunks of 20cm in diameter. Its birch is light colored, gray to brown. The Tala tends to branch abundantly, producing a dense mesh of branches in zigzag patterns, with strong spines in the foliar axis, 1,5 or more, cm long.

The leaves are alternate, peciolate and simple, their base rounded and the margin serrated in the apical region. Leaves are trinervate, acuminate

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

, of a dark green colour. This tree flowers in spring, producing inconspicuous yellowish pentamerous flowers. Since it presents hermaphrodite flowers, it is self-fertile. Tala fruit is a small drupe

Drupe

In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...

, 1 cm wide that hangs in short clusters. Not very fleshy and with a proportionally large seed within, it is however very sweet and pleasant to the taste.

Usage

Though edible by humans there is no market or habit of consumption, these fruits are mostly part of birds and several insect species diets.
It is appreciated by lumbers since its wood is tough and rather heavy. Produces excellent wood fuel. The tala rather small trunk allows only small carved objects be obtained. It is used in hand tool handles and small crafts.