Habitat

• native to Japan
• hardy to zone 5

Habit and Form

• a deciduous tree
• 25' to 40' tall
• equal spread
• vase-shaped crown, dense
• medium texture
• rapid growth rate

Summer Foliage

• alternate leaf arrangement
• simple, deciduous leaves
• serrate margins
• obovate leaf shape
• 3" to 5" long
• purplish new growth
• glaucescent leaf underside
• dark green leaf color

Autumn Foliage

• yellow, orange, or red fall color
• showy

Flowers

• single, pink flowers
• up to 1.5" in diameter
• blooms in early May
• borne in umbels
• showy

Fruit

• red to black drupe
• 0.5" in diameter
• attracts birds
• matures in mid summer
• not ornamentally important

Bark

• reddish, shiny bark
• looks polished
• horizontal lenticels
• stems are glabrous and reddish brown

Culture

• full sun to part shade
• soil tolerant
• moderately drought tolerant

Landscape Use

• specimen
• massing or grouping
• buffer strip
• parking lot
• shade tree

Liabilities

• caterpillars

ID Features

• deciduous tree
• alternate leaf arrangement
• serrate leaf margins
• single, pink flowers
• glaucescent leaf underside
• reddish, shiny bark with horizontal lenticels

Propagation

• by cuttings
• by seed

Cultivars/Varieties

'Columnaris' - This is an upright-fastigiate form that grows to 35' tall with a spread of 15'. 'Rancho' supposedly grows even more narrowly, to 30' tall and only 10' wide, but these two cultivars may be the same.