Size: shrub, 4-8' average height and spread at maturity
Buds: clustered at twig tips, light brown, glabrous
Leaves: deciduous, alternate, 1-4" long, .5-1.25" wide, simple, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, tip acute to obtuse, margins entire, very aromatic when crushed, soft green in summer, yellow and bronze-crimson in fall
Twigs: yellow resinlike dots, 1 bundle scar
Flowers: monoecious, rosy purple, 1.5" long and wide, terminal clusters of 3-6, bloom late March to early April
Fruit: dry capsule
