Shrubs small, 50 cm tall. Branchlets purplish brown or dull brown, glabrous, shiny. Petiole 3-5(-7) mm, glabrous or tomentulose; leaf blade elliptic or elliptic-oblong, sparsely pubescent, abaxially whitish, adaxially green, base rounded, rarely subcordate, margin entire, apex acute or obtuse. Male catkin 1.3-2.3 × ca. 1 cm, densely flowered; peduncle short, with leaflets; bracts obovate, ca. 2 mm, adaxially pilose, ciliate, apex obtuse. Male flower: adaxial gland larger than abaxial one, narrowly deltoid-ovate, apex entire, abaxial gland cylinric; stamens 2, distinct; filaments basally downy; anthers yellow. Female catkin ca. 2 cm × 8 mm; peduncle with leaflets; bracts obovate-oblong, margin with loose hairs. Female flower: gland adaxial, ca. 2/3 as long as ovary; ovary narrowly ovoid, glabrous, sessile; style ca. 1/3 as long as ovary; stigma 2-lobed. Fl. Jun, fr. Jul.

Similar to Salix cathayana but bracts of male catkin pilose adaxially; male flower with adaxial and abaxial glands; female catkin shorter; stigma 2-lobed. Similar also to S. maizhokunggarensis but bracts of male catkin adaxially pilose; adaxial gland of male flower narrowly deltoid-ovate, apex entire, abaxial gland cylindric; ovary sessile.

* Mountain slopes; circa 3100 m. SW Shaanxi (Taibai Shan)