Tree to 12 m (40 ft) tall and 50 cm (20 in) in diameter with broad spreading crown. Bark light brown to gray, with reddish-brown patches where large scales have recently fallen off. Twigs brown to gray, thin, hairy when young. Buds very small, globular, covered by numerous small hairy scales, no end bud. Leaves alternate, ovate, acuminate, unequal at the base, 5-6 cm (2-2.4 in) long and 2-2.5 cm (0.8-1 in) wide, coarsely wavy-toothed with gland-tipped teeth, rough and dark green above, paler and becoming glabrous below. Flowers very small, greenish-yellow, clustered at leaf base in early Spring. Fruits dry warty light brown nutlike drupes on short stalks at leaf bases, maturing in Spring.
Distribution: Scattered in the Coastal Plain and Mississippi Valley.
Habitat: Wet soil in floodplain forests.
NWI status: OBL
Comment: Planera honors the German botanist J. J. Planer; aquatica refers to its wetland habitat.
Distribution in Oklahoma: 
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Last update: 9/15/99
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