The leaves are simple, alternate, oblong-lanceolate and sharply toothed. The parallel veins run to the tips of the teeth which are glandular. The leaves are thin, yellow-green and smooth. The flowers are without petals, appearing after the leaves. Male flowers are creamy white, fragrant and densely clustered on semi-erect stalks.
Female flowers are inconspicuous and scattered at the base of male flowers.
4-valved bur covered with long, sharp spines. Nuts mature in a year and fall just after the first frosts. Leaf scars are oval with many bundle scars. A terminal bud is absent, but the side buds are ovoid, red-brown, with 2 to 3 thin, overlapping scales. The bark is thick, gray-brown and furrowed with broad, flat ridges.