Tree to 20 m or so tall. Bark smooth, grey. Young shoots softly hairy. Leaves ovate, mostly 4-10 cm long, dull grey-green above, greyish beneath with a velvety layer of hairs, pointed at tip, rounded to broadly wedge-shaped at base. Flowers winter to early spring. Fruits in groups of 4-8 with stalks absent or very short.
Europe, Caucasus
VIC: Melbourne (Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (Melbourne Gardens), 10 m tall in 1978).
A. hirsuta (Spach) Rupr. from E Asia is occasionally available; it is similar but has more or less round leaves and brownish hair on the new growth.
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.
Twigs and leaves mostly yellow, soft hairy below. Young catkins orange.
Leaves deeply cut, lower leaf surface soft hairy. Europe c. 1861.
