Height: 9’ to 12’ Spread: 12’ + Light Needs: full sun to partial shade Water: average to moist Flower color: brown or red
Bloom time: late winter and early spring
This is a large, suckering deciduous shrub. It does not spread aggressively. Male flowers are produced in drooping brown catkins. The red female flowers are produced singly along the branches. One or more 1/2-inch brown nuts are enclosed in leaf-like bracts.Both flower types may be produced on the same plant but cross-pollination with another plant is needed for good nut production. Nuts are edible at maturity in the fall. Over one hundred species of moth caterpillars, including the luna moth, feed on the leaves of this plant. A wide assortment of birds and mammals will compete with you to eat the nuts. Deer will browse on leaves and twigs that are in reach.
