Tree 10-15 m tall, broad crowned. Young shoots sticky, angled and spotted, often reddish-brown. Leaves broad, roundish, mostly 6-8 cm or more long, 4-6 cm wide, glossy, dark green above and paler below, sticky at first but later becoming tough, the base heart-shaped and tip point; the veins are covered with soft yellow-brown hair and there are tufts of hair in the vein axils; margins finely toothed; vein pairs 5-7. Leaf stalks 2-3 cm long. Flowers in spring. Fruits stalked and in groups of 1-3.
Italy, Corsica
A. subcordata C.A. Mey. from the Caucasus and Iran is occasionally available; it is similar but has dull leaves and hairy shoots and buds.
Leaves like those of Pyrus, Pear, with orange-yellow tufts of hair in the vein axils below.
SA: Mt Gambier (Umpherstone Cave, 4 m tall in 1993).
Source: (1997). Betulaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
