• leaves opposite to sub-opposite, rounded or broad ovate, with cordate base
• leaves resemble Cercis, with weakly serrate margin
• leaves blue-green, turning orange-yellow-salmon in fall
• buds small, with two scales, reddish, appressed, like "crab claws"
• stems smooth, brown, with swollen nodes and small spur-like growths on older growth
• flowers small, inconspicuous, with no petals, scattered along older stems, in very early spring before leaves
• fruit is a small pod (shaped like a banana) that splits open, borne in small clusters at the nodes, only on female trees
• bark brown, developing vertical plates that are shaggy and peal from edges
• habit is a large tree, single-stem or multi-stemmed
• habit is pyramidal in youth, becoming spreading (wider than tall) with age
• plant gives off a spicy aroma in autumn as the leaves color and fall

View Cercidiphyllum japonicum page in the UConn Plant Database