Tall shrub or small tree; lvs oblong to obovate, obtuse to short-acuminate, serrate with low, distant, ascending or incurved teeth, broadly cuneate at base, dull green and glabrous beneath; principal lateral veins mostly 5–8 on a side, mostly curved-ascending, often not reaching the margins; fruiting catkins evidently pedunculate, not leafy-bracteate, relatively large, 1.5–3 cm long, often 1.5 cm thick, with very broad scales; fr ovate to obovate, 3–4 mm, 2/3 as wide; catkins in anthesis in late summer or fall (unique among our spp.); 2n=28. Edges of ponds and small streams, often in standing water; Delmarva peninsula; disjunct in s.c. Okla., where said to have been intr. from Delmarva by relocated Indians. (A. metaporina)