Usually 3–6 feet tall (1–2 m) with a rounded crown, single or multiple stems, this small, erect tree or shrub is recognized by its distinctive trifoliate leaves with an aromatic citrus odor, clusters of small greenish-white to creamy flowers, and flat, round, wafer-like seeds. The same tree may have separate male, female, and bisexual flowers.

FLOWERS: May–June. Rounded clusters held +within leaves; flowers have 4 or 5 petals (often in same cluster) about 1/4 inch long (4–6 mm); male flowers have stamens alternating with petals, no central pistil; females have 1 pistil and tiny, non-functional stamens (staminodes) between petals. Fruit a thin, circular, flat, wafer-like samara 3/4–1 inch diameter (2-3 cm), green becoming brown, hanging in clusters.

LEAVES: Alternate on long stalks (petioles), palmately compound with 3 leaflets; blades elliptic to lance-shaped or rhombic, 3/4–4 inches long (2–10 cm) 1–3 inches wide (3–8 cm); margins minutely toothed or scalloped, top surface smooth, bottom sparsely hairy along main vein; tips pointed.

HABITAT: Open slopes, canyons, riparian, bottomlands; grasslands, pinyon-juniper foothills, ponderosa forests.

ELEVATION: 4,500–8,500 feet (1372–2590 m).

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, TX, UT; widespread east to the Atlantic, north to the Great Lakes, and into Canada.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The aromatic, trifoliate leaves and round, wafer-like seeds distinguish this small tree, but all features are highly variable. Some literature divides the species into 8 varieties, but Flora Neomexicana III (Allred) lumps all subdivisions together.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide (absent e. plains, NW corner) in mid-elevation, open habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Harding, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, Mora, Otero, Quay, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Valencia.