Habitat

• native to the Mediterranean Area
• hardy to zone 4

Habit and Form

• a deciduous tree
• up to 60' tall
• only 10' wide
• columnar growth
• fine texture
• fast growth rate

Summer Foliage

• alternate leaf arrangement
• simple, deciduous leaves
• glabrous
• serrate leaf margins
• 2" to 4" long
• deltoid leaf shape
• bright green leaf color

Autumn Foliage

• yellow fall color

Flowers

• red catkins
• 1" to 2" long
• before leafs out
• not ornamentally important

Fruit

• fruitless

Bark

• brown, slender twigs
• gray-green bark
• older bark is black and furrowed

Culture

• grows best in full sun
• prefers, moist, fertile soil
• salt tolerant
• drought tolerant

Landscape Use

• windbreaker
• screen

Liabilities

• canker
• too many to name
• suckers

ID Features

• small, imbricate, appressed buds; reddish brown
• deltoid leaf shape
• serrate leaf margins
• bright green leaf color
• red catkins
• columnar growth habit

Propagation

'Italica' - The most common fastigiate form, but a very poor landscape plant that is short-lived and prone to disease. It grows quickly to 50' tall and perhaps 10' wide. The habit is strongly columnar and the branches are harshly upright.

'Lombardy Gold' - Similar to 'Italica', this plant has yellow-gold leaves.

'Majestic' - Marketed as an improved 'Italica', this pyramidal male form grows quickly and purportedly has less susceptibility to disease.

'Thevestina' (also known as 'Theves' and 'Afghanica') - A female clone marketed as being similar to 'Italica', this plant in fact grows more broadly and has whitish bark.