Size: tree, 25-30' average height at maturity, spread 20' spread
Buds: terminal absent, about 6 scales
Leaves: deciduous, alternate, 3-8" long, 1.5-3.5" wide, simple, elliptic-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, tips acuminate, margins entire or serrulate, shiny dark green, bright red, yellow, and purple in fall
Twigs: slender, olive or bright red
Flowers: monoecious, white, urn-shaped, fragrant, in pendulous clusters up to 10" long, bloom June-July
Fruit: woody, 5-valved, bell-shaped capsules to .5"
Bark: gray-brown or brown, deeply furrowed, scaly ridges broken into blocks
