China Flora: Tree or shrub-like. Young branches are pubescent and fall off later. Leaves are ovate, broadly ovate or ovate-elliptic, 1.5-6 cm long, with pointed apex and rounded or broadly cuneate base. They are pubescent when young on the upper side and pubescent on the lower side, sometimes with resin glands, with irregular double serrations, and 8-9 pairs of lateral veins; petiole is 0.2-1 cm long and densely pubescent. Female inflorescence is nearly spherical, rarely oblong, 1-2 cm long, and peduncle is 1-2 mm long; bracts are 5-9 mm long, pubescent, lobes are curved outward at the top, middle lobe is lanceolate, lateral lobes are ovate, spread out, and 1/3-1/2 as long as the middle lobe. Nutlets are obovate or ovate, with extremely narrow wings. Flowering period is April-May, and fruiting period is August.

It is native to Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, eastern Gansu, southern Qinghai and western Hubei. It grows on rocky slopes or in valley forests at an altitude of 700-3000 meters. It is also distributed in North Korea. Its wood is hard, heavy and dense, and can be used to make axles. It is an excellent timber species in the north. 

[translated from Higher Plants of China]

 

Korea Flora: Deciduous tree or shrub, height 5m. Bark gray, peeling, with linear lenticels arranged horizontally. Winter Buds and Stems: Young branches purplish-brown. Leaves: Alternate, ovate or orbicular, apex acuminate, base subcordate, rounded, or nearly cuneate, 2.5-4cm × 1.5-3cm, with simple serrations; (6)8-10 pairs of lateral veins; upper surface occasionally pubescent; lower surface pubescent along veins without dots; petiole with white hairs, 10-12mm long. Flowers: Male catkins hemispherical, 1.5-2cm long. Peduncle 1mm long; bracts 5mm long, densely pubescent, three-lobed. Fruit and Seeds: Nuts 1.5-2.0cm × 1.4cm, ovoid; involucral bracts 6mm long, lobes linear-lanceolate, densely pubescent. Nutlets 3mm × 2mm, brown, almost wingless.

Sporophyte Chromosome Number: 112
Flowering Period: May
Fruiting Period: Early to late September
Distribution: Northern China and some inland areas; north of Gangwon-do and Gyeonggi-do (Korea)