LEAVES.—Alternate, simple, 2-4 inches long and almost as broad; broadly ovate to suborbicular; irregularly toothed, sinuate, or sometimes 3-5-lobed; glabrous, dark green above, white-tomentose to glabrous beneath; petioles long, slender, flattened, tomentose.
FLOWERS.—April-May, before the leaves; dioecious; the staminate catkins thick, cylindrical, 2-4 inches long; the pistillate catkins slender, 1-2 inches long; calyx 0; corolla 0; stamens 6-16, with purple anthers; stigmas 2, branched, yellow.
FRUIT.—May-June; ovoid, 2-valved capsules, 1/8-1/4 inch long, borne in drooping catkins 2-4 inches long; seeds light brown, surrounded by long, white hairs.
WINTER-BUDS.—Ovoid, pointed, not viscid, downy, about 1/4 inch long.
BARK.—Twigs greenish, covered with a white down, becoming greenish gray and marked with darker blotches; dark gray and fissured at the base of old trunks.
WOOD.—Light, soft, weak, difficult to split, reddish yellow, with thick, whitish sapwood.
NOTES.—A native of Europe and Asia. Hardy in Michigan. Grows rapidly in good soils; thrives in poor soils and exposed situations. Roots deep, producing numerous suckers for a considerable distance from the tree.