Size: tree or shrub, 10-15' average height and spread at maturity
Buds: terminal stalked, naked, or partially covered by thin papery scales, gray-brown, densely pubescent
Leaves: deciduous, alternate, 3-6" long, 2.25-3" wide, simple, obovate to orbicular obovate, tips short acuminate, margins sinuous, denticulate, dull green, pubescent above, gray tomentose below, yellow to yellow-orange in fall
Twigs: gray pubescent in first year, later gray to gray-brown, glabrous
Flowers: monoecious, bright yellow in early spring, fragrant, 4 straplike petals, basal calyx cup rich red-brown, blooms February-March
Fruit: 2-valved capsule that ejects 2 black seeds at maturity
Bark: smooth gray to gray-brown
