Growth Form: Small tree to 30 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 8 inches; crown irregular.
Bark: Dark brown, broken into square plates.
Twigs: Slender, somewhat rusty-hairy; leaf scars opposite, crescent-shaped, with 3 bundle traces.
Buds: Rusty-hairy, up to ½ inch long.
Leaves: Opposite, simple; blades elliptic to obovate, short-pointed or rounded at the tip, rounded or tapering to the base, up to 3 inches long, about half as wide, sharply and finely toothed along the edges, dark green and usually smooth on the upper surface, paler and with some rusty hairs on the lower surface; leafstalks up to ¾ inch long, rusty-hairy.
Flowers: Many in broad, round-topped clusters, appearing during April and May, each flower small and creamy-white.
Fruit: Fleshy, oblong, to obovoid, blue-black, up to ⅔ inch long. sweet, containing a single stone.
Wood: Hard, heavy, strong but brittle, close-grained, dark orange-brown.
Use: Sometimes planted as an ornamental.
Habitat: Dry, rocky woods.