Trees to 20 m tall; bark greenish gray, deeply furrowed near base of trunk. Branchlets gray-tawny or russet, terete, glabrous. Buds oblong, viscid; scales ciliate along margin. Petiole 1.5-3.5 cm, glabrous; leaf blade suborbicular or orbicular-cordate, rarely ovate-orbicular, 3-10 × 2-9 cm, abaxially greenish and glabrous, adaxially dark green, pilose along veins, base cordate or rounded, margin serrulate and ciliate, apex shortly acuminate, often twisted. Male catkin 4-8 cm; rachis glabrous or pilose. Male flower: stamens 30-40. Fruiting catkin 13-16 cm; rachis glabrous or pilose. Capsule 3-valved. Fl. May, fr. May-Jun.

Used for wood pulp, timber for construction, matchwood, and ship building.

* Along rivers. Hebei, Nei Mongol