Growth Form: Small or medium tree to 45 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 12 inches; crown broadly rounded when mature.
Bark: Smooth at first, becoming shallowly fissured with age.
Twigs: Slender, gray or gray-brown, smooth; leaf scars alternate, with 3 bundle traces.
Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades nearly round or obovate, rounded at the tip, rounded or somewhat tapering to the base, up to five inches long, often nearly as broad, irregularly and rather coarsely toothed along the edges, dark green and smooth on the upper surface, green and smooth beneath, or sometimes hairy on the veins; leafstalks stout, up to 1 inch long, usually smooth.
Flowers: Staminate and pistillate flowers borne separately but on the same tree, appearing before the leaves unfold, the staminate in slender, drooping catkins up to 3 inches long, the pistillate in erect, oblong “cones” less than 1 inch long.
Fruit: Cone-shaped, up to ¾ inch long, composed of several nut-like seeds, each subtended by a woody segment of the “cone.”
Wood: Soft, straight-grained.
Uses: The wood is easily carved and used in the making of small wooden objects. It is also used for charcoal and fuel. The bark has reputed medicinal properties.
Habitat: Moist, disturbed areas.
Range: Native of Europe, Asia, and Africa; naturalized throughout much of northeastern North America.