LEAVES.—Alternate, simple, 3-6 inches long, one-half as broad; obovate to oblong-oval, more or less dished; coarsely doubly serrate; thick and firm; lustrous, dark green above, pale-pubescent beneath; petioles pubescent, 1/4 inch long.
FLOWERS.—March-April, before the leaves; mostly perfect; greenish; borne on slender, drooping pedicels in loose racemes; calyx campanulate, 7-8-lobed; corolla 0; stamens 7-8, with purple anthers; ovary hairy, 2-styled.
FRUIT.—May; ovate, 1-seeded samaras, pubescent all over, 1/2 inch long.
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud absent; lateral buds ovoid, acute, brown, pilose, 1/4 inch long.
BARK.—Twigs at first light brown and pubescent, becoming lustrous, red-brown, finally gray-brown with corky, wing-like ridges; thick and grayish on the trunk, with wide fissures separating broad, flat, scaly ridges.
WOOD.—Heavy, very strong and tough, close-grained, light red-brown, with thick, lighter colored sapwood.
DISTRIBUTION.—Frequent in the southern third of the Lower Peninsula.
HABITAT.—Dry, gravelly uplands; rocky ridges and slopes; heavy clay soils; river-banks.
NOTES.—A good street tree, but less graceful in habit than U. americana.