Family:
Growth Form: Large tree sometimes more than 100 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 8 feet; crown broad, often irregular. The bark is reddish-brown when young, quickly breaking into thin, flat scales, falling away in sections to expose large patches of whitish or greenish inner bark.
Twigs: Smooth, light brown,somewhat zigzagg; leaf scars alternate, encircling the buds somewhat elevated, with 5-7 bundle traces.
Buds: Light brown, pointed, about one-fourth inch long, entirely covered by the base of the leafstalk. When the leaves fall off, exposing the buds, they leave a scar which surrounds the base of each bud.
Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades circular in outline but divided into 3 or 5 shallow, sharp-pointed lobes, heart-shaped or cut straight across at the base, up to 7 inches long (longer on vigorous shoots) and often as broad, bright green and smooth on the upper surface, paler and smooth on the lower surface except for the sparsely hairy veins; leafstalks to 5 inches long, slightly hairy; stipules, resembling the leaves but only about an inch long, often persist near the base of the leafstalks.
Flowers: Staminate and pistillate flowers are borne separately but on the same tree, minute, crowed together in dense, round heads
Fruits: Round light brown heads, about one inch in diameter, on long drooping stalks, containing many small seeds surrounded by hairs.
Habitat: Bottomlands, along streams, around lakes and ponds.
Range: Maine across southern Wisconsin to eastern Nebraska, south to eastern Texas, east to northern Florida.
N 38 degrees 34.755 minutes
W 89 degrees 04.146 minutes
Elevation 475 feet