Size: tree, 20-40' average height and spread at maturity
Buds: terminal absent, laterals have 5 scales, located at base of thorn, small, roundish, brown, partially embedded in bark
Leaves: deciduous, alternate, 2-5" long, 1-2.5" wide, simple, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, tips acuminate, margins entire, bright shiny green changes to yellow in fall
Twigs: thorns present above leaf scar with bud at base, leaf scar semicircular
Flowers: dioecious, inconspicuous, females in dense founded head on short peduncle, males in roundish or elongated racemes
Fruit: large 4-6" yellow-green globes with milky sap, resemble bright green brains
Bark: orange-brown on old trunks, fisures and scaley ridges, orange wood
