(about 1000 cultivars, more common than the species itself)
Size: tree, 40-50' average height at maturity
Buds: terminal absent, base surrounded by papery sheath that is densely hairy along margin, 4 pairs of scales
Leaves: deciduous, opposite, usually 2.5-3" long and wide, vary with cultivar from less than 1" to more than 5", simple, palmate, usually 5-7 lobes, sometimes 9, margins usually serrate
Color: often various shades of green in summer, wide range of spring, summer and fall colors in cultivars, as well as intense pinks, brick and blood red, and many shades of orange
Twigs: glabrous, often red or green depending on cultivar
Flowers: monoecious, white or reddish depending on cultivar, inconspicuous
Bark: green or gray-brown depending on cultivar, sometimes attractively striped with white on young wood
