Shrubs to 2 m tall. Branchlets yellowish, chestnut colored, or grayish black, at first pubescent, glabrescent or subglabrous. Stipules obliquely ovate or semicordate, margin serrate; petiole 2-5 mm, usually shorter than stipules; leaf blade ovate, oblong, or oblong-obovate, 2-8 × 1-4 cm, abaxially greenish, adaxially green, base cuneate to cuneate-rounded, margin serrulate, apex shortly acuminate. Flowering coetaneous. Catkins 2-4 cm; peduncle tomentose, with leaflets; bracts brownish, oblong, densely grayish white villous. Male flower: stamens 2; filaments distinct, rarely united at base, glabrous; anthers yellowish. Fruiting catkin elongated. Female flower: ovary ovoid, glabrous, shortly stipitate; style conspicuous, sometimes 2-cleft; stigma short, 2-lobed. Capsule green or brown, glabrous. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Jul. 2n = 35, 37-39.

Riverbanks; 1000-1800 m. Xinjiang (Altay Shan) [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia; Europe, NW North America]