Plant: tree; 10-25 m high; trunk 6-20 dm in diameter; bark greenish-brown, peeling to reveal whitish inner bark Leaves: broadly ovate, 10-25(-30) cm long, about as wide as long, palmately divided usually below the middle into 3-7 lobes, the lobes long and attenuate, entire or dentate; base cordate or truncate, occasionally wedge-shaped; upper surface light green, glabrous or slightly pubescent; lower surface paler, sparsely to densely tomentose, especially when young; petioles 5-10 cm long; stipules foliaceous, sheathing, entire or dentate, sometimes lacking Inflorescence: of 1-4 heads in pendant axillary or terminal racemes; peduncles 2-3 cm long; staminate heads dark red, on axillary peduncles; pistillate heads green to red, on terminal peduncles Flowers: appearing with the leaves; sepals of staminate flowers 3-6, tiny scale-like; sepals of pistillate flowers (3-)4(-6), rounded; petals longer than the sepals, cuneiform, scarious; stamens elongate-ovoid; ovaries sessile, oblong, persistently hairy at base; styles red, papillose, stigmatic to below the middle Fruit: FRUITS in heads 1.5-2.0 cm in diameter, on peduncles 10-20 cm long; achenes elongate, obovoid, truncate, 5-10 mm long, surrounded by long hairs; styles persistent; SEEDS elongate-oblong, pendulous Misc: Along streambanks in canyons; 600-2450 m (2000-8000 ft); Mar-May REFERENCES: Laferriere, Joseph E. 1994 Platanaceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27, 238.