Size: shrub or small tree
Buds: small, woolly, leaf scar encircles bud
Leaves: deciduous, alternate, pinnately compound, 9-21 leaflets, each 1.75-4" long with lanceolate leaflets and winged leafstalk, dark green in summer, changing to bright red (sometimes purplish) in fall, glossy top, fuzzy underside
Twigs: reddish, may be hairy or smooth, large leaf scars
Flowers: dioecious, light yellowish, upright pyramidal spikes, bloom in mid-summer
Fruit: small, red, glob-shaped, woolly berry, borne in dense upright pyramidal clusters, 4-8" long, 3-4" wide
Bark: silver-gray, smooth, raised round lenticels, often becoming scaly at maturity
