Shrubs cushion-shaped, to a few cm tall. Petiole ca. 1 mm; leaf blade elliptic or obovate-elliptic, ca. 1.5 cm × 7 mm, abaxially greenish, both surfaces subglabrous, adaxially green, slightly wrinkled, base cuneate, margin crenate distally, apex acute; lateral veins 4 on each side of midvein. Flowering coetaneous or serotinous. Catkins terminal, ellipsoid-capitate, 5- or 6-flowered; bracts usually orbicular, nearly as long as filaments, submembranous, glabrous, sparsely ciliate, 3-veined. Male flower: glands adaxial and abaxial; stamens 2, distinct, glabrous, 2-2.5 mm; anthers yellow, ellipsoid. Female flower: gland adaxial, ca. as long as stipe or slightly shorter; ovary narrowly ovoid, 1.3-1.5 mm, glabrous, shortly stipitate; style short, 2-cleft; stigma 2-lobed.

Mountain slopes; 3300-4200 m. W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan [Nepal]