Description from Nesom, G.L. 2010. Phytoneuron 2010-51:9: Trees 7–20 m; twigs terete, glabrous; bark light to dark gray, evenly furrowed with smooth ridges and evenly reticulate; winter buds brown. Leaves deciduous, pinnate, 20–35 cm; leaflets 7–9, subcoriaceous, petioles, rachis, and petiolules glabrous, abaxially whitish to pale greenish, papillose, not scaly-punctate, blade 7–12 x 2.5–7 cm, ovate-lanceolate to narrowly ovate-lanceolate, elliptic-ovate, or oblong-ovate, apex acute to long-acuminate, base rounded to obtuse or abruptly attenuate, margins entire or usually subentire to very shallowly crenate, lateral petiolules 3–20 mm, not winged; rachis 7–12 cm, not winged; petiole bases not raised; leaf scars oblong-obovate to widely obovate, apex, shallowly concave to nearly truncate. Flowers unisexual (species dioecious), appearing with or just before leaves, wind pollinated; pistillate calyx present, persisting at base of samaras; petals absent. Samaras (32–)36–44 mm, body cylindric to subcylindric, wings 2, arising from distal 1/3–1/4 of body, (4.5–)5–7 mm wide. 2n = 92 [tetraploid].
Flowering Feb–Apr(–May). Bottomland forests, alluvial woods, creek terraces, flood plains, sandy swales, slopes, ridges, river bluffs, loess hills, beech-maple, upland hardwoods, oak-pine; 100–400(–1200, in Rabun County, Ga.) m; Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., La., Md., Miss., Mo., N.J.?, N.C., Ohio, Okla.?, Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va.
