Trees to 30 m tall; trunk to 1 m d.b.h.; bark grayish, fissured. Branches dull brown, angled; branchlets yellowish brown, downy, glabrescent. Buds dull purple, conical, with downy basal scales, viscid. Petiole terete, 2-4.5 cm, densely downy; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, 8-18 × 3-10 cm, leathery, abaxially white, pubescent on both surfaces, adaxially green, base shallowly cordate to rounded, margin glandular serrate, ciliate, slightly revolute, apex long acuminate. Fruiting catkin to 30 cm; rachis glabrous. Capsule ovoid, ca. 10 × 8 mm, at first pilose, 4- or 5-valved. Fr. Sep.

* Margins of woods, along streams. E Xizang