Carpinus cordata

Sawa hornbeam or heartleaf hornbeam is a member of the birch or Betulaceae family and is native to Japan, northeastern China, Korea and Russia. It is a slow-growing, densely branched deciduous tree growing generally up to 10 m tall.

• Leaves are simple, alternate, large, heart-shaped, 8–15 cm long and 4–5 cm across, doubly-serrate, prominently veined.
• Insignificant tiny greenish flowers appear in spring in separate male and female catkins, male catkins are 2.5–5.0 cm. long, the scales linear, 4 mm long, silky-hairy; female catkins give way to somewhat showy cigar shaped seed pods to 7.5–12 cm long.
• Terminal winter buds are large (1.3 cm long); bark is gray or black-gray, scaly fissured. Branchlets brown or yellow-brown, glabrous.