Size: shrub, 6-9' average height at maturity (6-12' spread)
Buds: dense brown hairs, laterals sunken and surrounded by leaf scar
Leaves: deciduous, opposite, 2-5" long, simple, ovate to elliptic or narrow elliptic, acute or acuminate tips, margins entire, dark green above, gray-green and densely pubescent below, yellowish in fall
Twigs: fragrant when broken, gray-brown, appear angular at nodes, u-shaped leaf scars, large white pith
Flowers: monoecious, dark red-brown, up to 2" across, fruity odor, bloom in May
Fruit: with an urn-shaped brown receptacle, 2-3" long, 1-1.5 wide, persist through winter
