 The largest specimen known is at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio, 22 m tall and 2.2 m trunk diameter; the tallest known is a slender tree 27 m tall but only 0.55 m trunk diameter, at Plott Cove Research Natural Area, Georgia (Spongberg & Ma 1997; Eastern Native Trees Society).Plants from Alabama have the leaves more densely hairy underneath than those from further north, and are distinguished as "Cladrastis kentukea" f. "tomentosa" (Steyermark) Spongberg.