Growth Form: Large tree up to 150 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 5 feet; crown broadly rounded; trunk straight, columnar, not buttressed at the base.
Bark: Black, thick, deeply furrowed.
Twigs: Stout, greenish or orange-brown, hairy, smooth and gray; pith brown, divided by partitions; leaf scars alternate, shield-shaped, elevated, with 3 bundle traces.
Buds: More or less rounded at the tip, pale brown, soft, hairy, up to ½ inch long.
Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound, with 15-23 leaflets; leaflets up to 3½ inches long and 1½ inches wide, broadly lance-shaped, pointed at the tip, rounded at the asymmetrical base, toothed along the edges, yellow-green and smooth on the upper surface, paler and hairy on the lower surface, turning yellow in the autumn.
Flowers: Borne separately but on the same tree, appearing when the leaves are partly grown, the staminate several in thick, yellow-green, hairy catkins, the pistillate much fewer in small spikes, neither of them with petals.
Fruit: In groups of 1 or 2, spherical, up to 2 inches in diameter, green or yellow-green, slightly roughened, the husk thick, the nut very hard, oval, dark brown, deeply ridged, the seed sweet.
Wood: Hard, heavy, coarse-grained, dark brown.
Uses: The wood is used for furniture, interior finishing, cabinets; the nuts are edible.
Habitat: Rich woodlands.