A large tree, most common on bottomland sites in the eastern U.S. and Great Plains, but not common in most of the northeast or Appalachians. It has a broad crown with spreading branches and is the largest and most important of the eatsern Populus with uses similar to P. tremuloides. Leaves are up to 7" in length and deltoid with a flattened petiole. Margins are coarsely serrate with glandular teeth. Twigs are stout, angular, glabrous, and yellow-brown with divergent buds. Bark is greenish-yellow, becoming ash-grey and dividing into thick ridges separated by deep fissures.