Plants to ca. 25(-35) m, with sour-tasting sap. Stems terete. Leaf blades turning red in autumn, 5.5-23.5 × 2-8 cm, base cuneate to rounded, apex acute to acuminate. Flowers: calyx lobes 1-2 × 0.7-1.4 mm; corolla 4-7 × 2.5-5.5 mm; filaments 2-3.5 mm; anthers with locules narrowed distally, tubulelike; style strongly impressed into apex of ovary. Capsules 3.5-8.5 × 2-4 mm, unicellular-hairy; placentae basal. 2n = 24. Flowering late spring-summer. Usually well-drained, acid, broadleaved forests on slopes, bluffs, in ravines, or along streams, ecotone areas in pinelands, swamp margins; 0-1700 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., Ind., Ky., La., Md., Miss., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., S.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va. Oxydendrum arboreum is often used as an ornamental; it sometimes persists after cultivation (or rarely escapes from cultivation) in regions north of its native range; specimen-based records from New Jersey and southern New York appear to represent such escapes from cultivation.