Trees to 20 m tall; trunk to 50 cm d.b.h.; bark dark gray, furrowed; crown tower-shaped or rounded. Branchlets yellowish brown or slightly purplish brown, coarsely robust, loose, angled, tomentose when young, or pilose to glabrescent. Buds ovoid-conical, large, slightly viscid; basal scale tomentose. Petiole red, terete, 5-8 cm, pilose; leaf blade ovate, 15-30 × 10-15 cm, abaxially greenish, tomentose along veins, adaxially bright green, glabrous, densely downy at base, base deeply cordate, often auriculate, often 2-glandular, margin glandular crenate-serrate, revolute, apex acuminate, rarely shortly acuminate. Male catkin 9-12 cm; rachis pilose; bracts russet, oblanceolate, smooth, apex laciniate. Male flower: stamens 30-40. Fruiting catkin 15-24 cm; rachis pilose. Capsule ovoid, 1-1.7 cm, tomentose, 3-valved, shortly stipitate or sessile. Seeds oblong, 3-3.5 mm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. May-Jun.

* Mountain slopes, riverside woods; 1300-3500 m. Guizhou, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.