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With the average life span of from 100 to 150 years, this small tree grows to heights of 9 metres and has a trunk that is about 20 cm in diameter. The trunk is usually ridged or fluted. Its buds are small, smooth, brown, with numerous small scales. Its leaves alternate, 5-11 cm long and 2.5-6 cm wide, rounded, usually slightly uneven at base, and are doubly serrate. Single catkins (a long hanging furry cluster of tiny leaves and petalless flowers) grow at the ends of twigs, are thin, drooping, 3-4 cm long, with many small greenish flowers in early spring before its leaves appear. The bark of the Blue Beech is thin, bluish-gray, smooth. Its fruit is a small, ribbed nut, about 2.5 cm long, in a three-lobed bract that assists with wind dispersion.
The Blue Beech is found on deep, rich, moist soils, in valleys and along the borders of streams and swamps. It does not tolerate overly acidic soils.
Its hard wood is used mainly for making tool handles.
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