(Cannabaceae)

I'll call it the hackberry family, but some of you out there may prefer to call it the cannabis family. Yup, hackberry trees are in the same family as the famous weed. If I ever stumble across a marijuana patch in the wilds, and am not shot, I'll include it here as an invasive species.  Meanwhile, hover over the photo series with your cursor to control the images.

Netleaf Hackberry (Celtis reticulata)

If you want to know how this tree got the "netleaf" part of its name, turn over one of the leaves. The berries turn red when ripe.

Common Hop, Hops (Humulus lupulus)

This is the plant whose female flowers, known as hops, provide beer with its distinctive slightly bitter taste. I don't have a picture of the female flowers yet, but they look like small green pine cones. Apparently there's some question as to whether wild-growing hops in the U.S. are an introduced species, a native species, and/or a genetic mix of both.