Shrubs. Branchlets grayish yellow-brown or russet, downy when young. Buds russet, ovoid. Petiole 1-3(-4) mm, villous; leaf blade lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, rarely oblong, 3.5 (-7) × 0.6-1(-1.3) cm, abaxially grayish green, villous along midvein, adaxially green, puberulent, both ends acute, rarely base subobtuse and apex shortly acuminate, margin serrulate, revolute; veins raised abaxially. Catkins 1.5-2.5 cm, densely flowered, sessile or shortly pedunculate; rachis downy; bracts brown, elliptic, oblong, or ovate, long pubescent, apex acute or obtuse. Male flower: adaxial gland linear or oblong, ca. 1/2 as long as bracts; stamens 2, glabrous. Fruiting catkin to 4 cm. Female flower: ovary narrowly ovoid, proximally downy; stipe pubescent, ca. as long as gland; style 1/3-1/2 as long as ovary, lobed; stigma short, entire or 2-lobed. Capsule ca. 4 mm, basally pilose, stipitate. Fl. May, fr. Jun-Jul.

* Mountain slopes, valleys; 2200-3200 m. Gansu, Hebei (Xiaowutai Shan), Nei Mongol (Ningcheng Xian), Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi