Shrubs low, to 50 cm tall, much branched. Branchlets dull brown, darker when mature, glabrous; juvenile branchlets downy. Buds russet, ovoid, 3-4 mm, glabrous. Petiole ca. 6 mm; leaf blade obovate or obovate-elliptic, 2-5 × 1-2 cm, abaxially grayish white villous when young, becoming floccose or glabrous, adaxially green, glabrous, often shiny, base narrow, margin entire or serrulate, apex obtuse. Flowering coetaneous. Catkins terminal. Male catkin 1-3 cm; rachis downy; bracts obovate, abaxially glabrous, adaxially sparsely villous, apex obtuse-rounded. Male flower: abaxial gland thinner than adaxial gland; stamens 2, long pubescent at base. Female catkin ca. 2 cm; bracts obovate, both surfaces pilose, apex obtuse-rounded. Female flower: gland adaxial, oblong; ovary ovoid, densely downy, sessile; style conspicuous, 2-cleft; stigma 2-lobed. Fl. Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

* Thickets; 3600-4000 m. E Xizang, NW Yunnan