A medium-sized, often multiple-stemmed tree native to stream banks of the coastal plain and piedmont that is the southernmost Betula. Leaves are 2-5" long, ovate, and deeply doubly serrated with a broad cuneate base. Twigs are slender, more or less pubescent and non-aromatic with acute buds. Fruit is cylindrical, erect, and matures in late spring. Bark comes in salmon-pink, thin, papery strips, becoming scaly.