Size: shrub, 5-7' average height at maturity
Buds: green-brown to pink-brown, large, solitary, 3 scales
Leaves: deciduous, alternate, 2-4" long, 2-3" wide, petiole .5-1" long and woolly, simple, ovate to obovate, abruptly short acuminate, obliquely cordate to rounded, sinuate-denticulate with bristle-like teeth, 6-8 vein pairs, new growth emerges purplish, then turns blue-green in summer, glaucous and downy below
Twigs: thick, rounded, zig-zag appearance, brown, mostly glabrous
Flowers: perfect, pale yellow or yellow-green, borne in 1-2" pendulous racemes of 6-12 flowers in early spring before leaves
Fruit: 2 valves, dehiscent capsule, not ornamental
Bark: grey-brown, smooth
