Family:
Growth Form: Medium to large tree up to 80 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 3 1/2 feet; crown roundedd, with some of the branches often hanging.
Stems: Bark is gray, separating into long, shreddy scales giving the trunk a shappy appearance. The twigs are stout, reddish-brown to gray, smooth or somewhat hairy; leaf scars alternate, 3-lobed, not elevated, with several bundle traces.
Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound, with 5-7 leaflets; leaflets ovate, obovoteor less commonly lance-shaped, usually short-pointed at the tip, tapering to the base, up to 10 inches long, up to 5 inches wide, finely toothed along the edges, with the tip of each tooth with a minute tuft of hairs, green or yellow-green and smooth on the upper surface, paler and smooth or somewhat hairy on the lower surface.
Flower Arrangement: The buds are ovoid, rounded or short-pointed at the tip, up to 1 inch long, hairy, the scales conspicuously yellow-green or reddish as they unfold in the spring.
Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne separately, but on the same tree, appearing after the leaves have begun to unfold, minute, without petals, the staminate crowded in slender, drooping catkins, the pisttllate in groupsof 2-5.
Petals:
Stamens: .
Pistil:
Fruits: Spherical or occasionally punching-bag shaped, up to 2 inches across, the husk yellow-green to reddish-brown, up to 1/2 inch thick, splitting all the way to the base, the nut 4-angled, nearly white, the seed sweet.
Habitat: Low, shaded woods.
Range: Maine across to Minnesota, south to eastern Texas, east to Florida.
N 38 degrees 34.755 minutes
W 89 degrees 04.146 minutes
Elevation 475 feet