It is a small, usually fast-growing tree that grows up to 10-25 m tall, with a trunk diameter of 30-50 cm, rarely up to 1 m diameter. It often has several trunks and can form impenetrable thickets. The shoots are green, often with a whitish to pink or violet waxy coating when young. Branches are smooth, somewhat brittle, and tend to retain a fresh green colour rather than forming a bark of dead, protective tissue. The bark on its trunks is pale gray or light brown, deeply cleft into broad ridges, and scaly. Unlike most other maples (which usually have palmate leaves), it has pinnate leaves that have three to seven leaflets (usually three).
The leaflets are about 5 - 10cm long and 3 - 7cm wide with slightly serrate margins. Leafs have a translucent light green colour and turn yellow in fall.
The flowers are small and appear in early spring on drooping racemes 10 - 20cm long. The seeds are paired samaras, each seed slender, 1 - 2cm long, with a 2-3 cm incurved wing; they drop in autumn or they may persist through winter. Seeds are usually both prolific and fertile.
