Leaves lanceolate, acuminate or on fertile branches occasionally rounded at the apex, rounded or cuneate at the base, finely serrate, hoary-tomentose early in the season, becoming glabrous above, and pale and glabrous or pubescent below, 2′—4′ long, ½′—¾′ wide; petioles hoary-tomentose, ¼′—½′ long; stipules minute, ovate, acute, hoary-tomentose, caducous, on vigorous shoots foliaceous, reniform, serrate above the middle, often ¾′ in diameter. Flowers: aments terminal on leafy tomentose or glabrous branchlets, narrow-cylindric, 3′ or 4′ long; scales ovate, rounded at the apex, yellow, densely villose-pubescent; stamens 3—7, usually 5 or 6, the filaments hairy toward the base; ovary ovoid-conic, acute, cuneate at the base with a short 2-lobed style, and pedicels up to ¼′ in length. Fruit ovoid, often rather abruptly contracted above the middle, ¼′ in length.
A tree, 20°—30°, high with a trunk occasionally 12′—18′ in diameter, spreading branches, and glabrous or pubescent red-brown or gray-brown branchlets; or more often a shrub. Bark dark, sometimes nearly black, deeply divided into broad ridges covered by small closely appressed scales.
Distribution. Borders of swamps and streams; coast of North Carolina southward to the Everglade Keys of Florida, ranging westward in Florida to the valley of the Saint Marks River, Wakulla County; in Cuba.
A variety with narrower summer leaves and longer petioles is var. venulosa Schn.
Distribution. Newbern, Craven County, North Carolina, southward near the coast to northern and western Florida, ranging inland in Georgia to the banks of the Savannah River near Augusta, Richmond County, and to Traders Hill, Charlton County; in the neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana (Drummond); in southwestern Oklahoma and in western Texas (Blanco, Kendall, Kerr, Bandera and Uvalde Counties).
A variety with obtuse stipules, usually glabrous branchlets and lanceolate or narrow elliptic-lanceolate leaves is distinguished as var. Wardii Schn.
A shrub or small tree.
Distribution. Banks of the Potomac River, District of Columbia, and Alleghany County, Maryland to Natural, Rockbridge, Fairfax and Elizabeth Counties, Virginia; northern Kentucky; northern Tennessee; northeastern Mississippi (near Iuka, Tishamingo County); St. Clair and Madison Counties, Illinois; more abundant in Missouri from Pike County southward to southwestern Kansas, western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.