Shrubs or small trees to 7 m tall. Branchlets brown, glabrous; juvenile branchlets dull brown, pubescent, becoming subglabrescent. Buds ovoid, small, glabrous. Stipules semicordate, 3-5 mm, margin sparsely glandular serrate, villous; petiole 3-6 mm, pubescent; leaf blade long elliptic-lanceolate, 7.5-11 × 2.3-3 cm, abaxially pale, adaxially dull green, both surfaces glabrous or downy along midvein, densely downy when young, base cuneate or broadly cuneate, margin coarsely glandular serrate, apex long acuminate. Male catkin unknown. Female catkin cylindric, 1.4-1.6 cm, to 2 cm in fruit; peduncle 6-9 mm, with 2 or 3 leaflets; leaflets obovate-oblong, 1.5-1.8 cm × 6-8 mm, usually deciduous after anthesis; bracts brownish, ovate, abaxially long pubescent proximally, adaxially subglabrous or long pubescent at base, ciliate, apex rounded or obtuse. Female flower: adaxial gland broad, larger than abaxial gland; ovary ovoid or long ovoid, 1.5-2 × 1-1.6 mm, pilose at base; style very short; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule 2.8-4 mm, glabrous or pilose at base. Fl. Apr, fr. May.

* Thickets, mixed woods; 1900-2600 m. Yunnan