A deciduous shrub or small tree, occasionally 30 to 40 ft high in a wild state; branches erect; branchlets quite glabrous. Leaves very variable in shape, usually three- but sometimes five-lobed; the lobes so deep sometimes that the leaf becomes trifoliolate, at other times quite shallow; 3 to 5 in. long and broad, coarsely toothed, quite glabrous on both surfaces; dark shining green above, pale beneath; stalk reddish, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long. Flowers few, produced towards the end of April in clusters 1 to 2 in. long, greenish yellow, 1⁄4 in. across. Fruit with incurved wings, each 3⁄4 in. long, 3⁄8 to 1⁄2 in. wide, reddish when young.
Native of western N. America; introduced about 1884. It is very distinct because of its thin, lustrous leaves, quite devoid of any down. At Kew it is thriving well, the best being now 40 × 3 ft (1967). The trees are well marked by their upright, almost fastigiate branches.