A tolerant, small, understory tree on cool, moist sites in the northest and south to GA in the Appalachians. Leaves are shallowly three-lobed above the middle and are finely doubly serrate. Twigs are slender, red to green-brown, and glabrous. The buds are red, valvate, and stalked. The fruit is small with widely divergent wings and matures in the fall. The bark has prominent white vertical stripes; becoming brownish with stripes.