A deciduous tree 20 to 30 ft high, with a slender, straight trunk. Leaves broadly ovate to almost orbicular, 3 to 6 in. long and almost as much in width; often cut off straight or heart-shaped at the base, narrowing abruptly at the apex to a long drawn-out point, the margin is irregularly toothed, almost ragged; the leaf-stalk is often two-thirds as long as the blade. Flowers bisexual, borne in clusters, before the leaves; petals and calyx absent; stamens numerous, with red anthers; pistils stalked, six to eighteen in number, with sessile stigmas that are receptive only after the stamens in the same flower and cluster have fallen. Fruit an oblanceolate, obliquely notched samara, containing one seed.
Native of the forests of Central and S. Japan. This tree has some value in the garden, and although it has no beauty of flower its habit is good; its leaves are handsome and distinct in form, and they turn red and yellow before falling.
