阿克苏柳 a ke su liu

Shrubs. Branchlets spreading or nearly erect, coarse; 1-year-old branchlets brown or dull brown, rarely gray-yellow, glabrous; juvenile branchlets white, pilose. Buds oblong-conical, 6-7(-10) mm, glabrescent. Petiole 2-3 mm, tomentose; leaf blade obovate, 2-4.5(-12) × 1-3 cm, 1-1.5 cm × 5-8 mm at anthesis, both surfaces gray-white, shiny, densely velvety, abaxially nearly sericeous-villous, adaxially gray pubescent, margin entire, rarely dentate; lateral veins 8-12 on each side of midvein, pubescent abaxially. Male catkin unknown. Fruiting catkin ovoid-oblong, ca. 3 cm × 9 mm, sessile or subsessile, with 1 or 2 scalelike leaflets or not; bracts 2-colored, russet distally, obovate, ca. 2.8 mm, both surfaces villous. Female flower: ovary ovoid, 2-3 mm, pilose; stipe short or absent; style ca. 1 mm; stigma 2-lobed, ca. as long as style, adaxial gland 1. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Jul.

Near water in valleys; circa 1900 m. Xinjiang (Aksu Diqu) [C Asia]