Size: tree, 30-50' average height at maturity
Buds: imbricate, 10 or more scales, glabrous and glossy, light and dark striations on surgace, narrowly ovate, pointed, terminal absent
Leaves: deciduous, alternate, 2-5" long, 1-2.5" wide, simple, oval-lanceolate, acuminate tips, margins sharply doubly serrate, veins fork at ends, dark green, change to yellow in fall
Twigs: dark red-brown, often shiny, usually zigzagging
Flowers: monoecious, winter catkins (male) usually present, usually in sets of 3 at twig tips, brown, about .5" long, abruptly pointed
Fruit: in clusters of about 2" long, inflated pouch-like scales (involucres)
Bark: gray-brown, in narrow strips, exfoliating on both ends
