Habitat

• native to Canada down through Texas across to Florida
• hardy to zone 3

Habit and Form

• a deciduous large shrub or small tree
• multistemmed
• wide spreading, flat-topped crown
• 20' to 30' tall and as wide or wider
• slow growth rate
• medium texture

Summer Foliage

• alternate leaf arrangement
• simple, deciduous leaves
• 2.5" long and 5" wide
• oblong leaf shape
• doubly-serrated leaf margin
• dark green leaf color, glabrous

Autumn Foliage

• yellow, orange, and red fall color
• variable

Flowers

• monoecious with male and female flowers on the same plant
• female flowers are 4" long and are attached to a 3-winged bract
• male flowers are not ornamentally important
• blooms in April

Fruit

• a nutlet subtended by a 3-winged, leaf-like bract
• 1" long
• numerous nutlets are held together in pendulous chain-like clusters
• color changes from green to brown in September thru October

Bark

• smooth, gray bark
• fluted base
• vertical ridges
• slender, dark brown, hairy stems

Culture

• transplants from containers
• prefers, deep fertile, moist, acidic soil
• full sun to shade
• prune tolerant

Landscape Use

• shade tree
• lawn tree
• park tree
• naturalized area
• hedge
• screen

Liabilities

• leaf diseases
• cankers
• doesn't transplant well

ID Features

• small, imbricate buds, 0.25" long
• buds are pointed and hairy
• alternate leaf arrangement
• clusters of nutlets with 3-winged bracts
• fluted, muscle-like bark
• dense, clean summer foliage

Propagation

• by seed, but requires stratification
• cuttings can be rooted, but they are difficult

Cultivars/Varieties

• few and hard to find