General Landscape Uses:
Large specimen or shade tree.
Availability:
Rarely grown by native plant nurseries.
Description: Large deciduous tree 90-100 feet tall with deeply furrowed grayish bark. Leaves 2-6 inches long, often copper colored when first unfolding.
Dimensions: Typically 90 feet in height, as broad as tall.
Growth Rate: Fast.
Range:
Throughout the United States and in Florida from Escambia county through the panhandle and along the western coast to Hernando county. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the
Exploring Florida website.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Floodplain forests and swamps.
Soils: Moist to wet, moderately well-drained to poorly-drained organic or sandy soils, often with acid pH.
Nutritional Requirements: High; requires rich organic soils for optimal growth.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous flower on conspicuous catkins 2-3 inches long.
Flowering Season: Early spring
Fruit: Tiny capsule.
References: Wunderlin and Hansen (
2011), Nelson (
1994)
Comments: We are currently adding data for this species for central and northern Florida. If you would like to contribute information or images, please contact George Gann via the IRC staff page.
