Description

Leaves: Alternate; simple; oblong-obovate to elliptic; 3" to 6" long, 1" to 3" wide; deciduous; coarsely doubly serrate margin; acuminate apex; dark green and rough above; somewhat hairy beneath; unequal base; petiole short.

Twigs/buds: Twigs slender; zigzag; dark brown; hairy.  No terminal bud; lateral buds about 1/4" long, oval, not sharp-pointed, chestnut-brown.

Flowers/fruit: Monoecous.  Fruit a large samara; about 3/4" long; oval; a flat thin wing around the seed; ripens in spring; can be present in large amounts making the tree look like it's covered with leaves when it is not yet leafed-out.

Bark: Gray-black; divided into flat-topped ridges with diamond-shaped furrows on understock trunk.

Wood: Information unavailable.

General: Original a twisted, weeping-form tree native to Scotland.  Now usually seen grafted about 6 feet up onto an upright trunk.  Intermediate shade tolerance.

Landscape Use: This is a very interesting looking, grafted, weeping tree that can get very gnarly with age.  Can be 15 feet high and 25 feet wide.  Fairly slow growing.  Found here-and-there in Utah.  Zones 4-6(7?).  

Cultivars: 'Camperdownii', 'Pendula'.

Characteristics