Salix argyracea f. obovata Goerz.

Shrubs to 5 m tall; bark gray. Branchlets yellowish to brown, glabrous, tomentulose when young. Buds brown, ovoid, at first tomentulose, glabrescent. Stipules lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, caducous; petiole brown, 5-10 mm, tomentose; leaf blade obovate, oblong-obovate, rarely oblong-lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, 4-10 × 1.5-2 cm, abaxially densely tomentose, shiny, adaxially green, glabrous, base cuneate, margin glandular serrulate, apex shortly acuminate, when young gray tomentose; lateral veins 8-18 each side of brownish midvein. Flowering precocious. Male catkin ca. 2 cm, subsessile; bracts black, ovate, densely long gray pubescent, apex acute or slightly obtuse. Male flower: gland adaxial; stamens 2, distinct, glabrous; anthers ovoid, apex obtuse. Female catkin 2-4 cm, shortly pedunculate, elongate in fruit; bracts as in male catkin. Female flower: gland adaxial; ovary ovoid-conical, densely gray tomentose, subsessile; style brown, ca. 1 mm; stigma ca. as long as style, lobes diverging. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug. 2n = 76.

Margins of woods, Picea woods on mountains. Xinjiang [S Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan]