It is a small- to medium-sized, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub up to 2 m (7 ft) tall [3] that is native to the eastern United States.

Showy, sterile flowers are usually absent or if present they are usually less than 1 cm in diameter on the edge of the panicles.

The stem bark has a peculiar tendency to peel off in several successive thin layers with different colors, hence the common name "sevenbark".

[10][page needed] In the UK the cultivar 'Annabelle' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Smooth hydrangea root was used medicinally by the Cherokee, and later, by early settlers for treatment of kidney and bladder stones.