Habitat

• native to southeastern United States
• hardy to zone 4

Habit and Form

• a deciduous small tree or large shrub
• upright, oval habit
• 20' to 30' tall
• width can equal height
• medium texture
• medium growth rate

Summer Foliage

• alternate leaf arrangement
• simple, deciduous leaves
• 2" to 5" long and half as wide
• entire leaf margin
• obovate leaf shape
• bluish green leaf color

Autumn Foliage

• yellow, orange, red to purple fall color
• showy

Flowers

• dioecious
• 6" to 10" long panicles
• green to greenish-white color
• blooms early spring

Fruit

• small and not ornamentally important

Bark

• gray-brown bark color
• flaky bark
• attractive

Culture

• easily transplanted and established
• full sun
• adaptable to many soils and pHs
• very tolerant of hot, dry, gravelly soils and sites

Landscape Use

• shrub border
• specimen
• small groupings
• difficult sites
• for mid and late summer "flowering" effect

Liabilities

• relatively trouble free
• Verticillium wilt

ID Features

• flaky bark
• lateral buds are small
• obovate leaves with rounded or notched tip
• long petioles
• "smokey" panicles

Propagation

• by cuttings
• by seed

Cultivars/Varieties

• none