Shrubs erect, to 50 cm tall. Branchlets dull gray or greenish brown; young branchlets pilose, glabrescent. Petiole 2-4 mm, pubescent, rarely pilose; leaf blade oblong or elliptic, 2-3 × 0.9-1.1 cm, adaxially dull green, sometimes pilose at base of midvein, both ends obtuse, rarely subrounded, margin entire. Flowering coetaneous. Male catkin unknown. Female catkin 1.4-1.6 cm × 3-4 mm; peduncle 4-5 mm, pubescent, with 2 or 3 leaflets; bracts elliptic, ca. 1/2 as long as ovary, both surfaces sparsely long pubescent, apex rounded. Female flower: adaxial gland shortly linear, slender, slightly shorter than bracts; ovary oblong-ovoid, basally pilose, shortly stipitate; style short, 2-cleft; stigma 2-lobed. Fl. Jul.

Similar to Salix luctuosa but plants smaller; leaf blade larger, not silky downy abaxially; female catkin 1.4-1.6 cm; bracts sparsely long pubescent; adaxial gland slender; ovary shortly stipitate.

* Thickets on high mountains; circa 4000 m. Xizang