Growth Form: Up to 90 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2 feet; crown very irregular, with a few, large, upright branches.
Bark: Gray or brown, smooth when young, becoming scaly ridged at maturity.
Twigs: Rather stout, smooth or hairy, reddish; leaf scars alternate, 3-lobed, each with 3 bundle traces; pith 5-angled.
Buds: Ovoid, pointed, dark brown, sticky, up to one-half inch long.
Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades ovate, rounded or bluntly pointed at the tip, heart-shaped at the base, up to 8 inches long, up to 6 inches broad, with rounded teeth along the edges, green on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, densely white-woolly when young, becoming essentially smooth at maturity; leafstalks to 4 inches long, smooth or sparsely hairy, not flattened.
Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne on separate trees, the staminate crowded in thick catkins up to 4 inches long, the pistillate in slender catkins up to 6 inches long, both appearing before the leaves begin to unfold.
Fruit: Ovoid, reddish-brown capsules up to ½ inch long, grouped in elongated clusters, containing numerous seeds with cottony hairs attached.
Wood: Light weight, soft, pale brown.
Uses: Pulpwood, fuel, interior finishing.
Habitat: Swamps, low woods.