Shrubs to 5 m tall; bark dull gray. Branchlets densely gray tomentose. Buds brown, flattened oblong, gray tomentose. Stipules reniform or semiovate; petiole 5-7 mm; leaf blade long obovate or obovate-lanceolate, 4-10 × 1-1.5 cm, larger on shoots, abaxially densely gray tomentose, adaxially dull green or grayish green, base attenuate, margin shallowly serrulate, rarely entire, apex acute; lateral veins raised abaxially. Flowering precocious or coetaneous. Male catkin 1-2 cm; bracts brown, spatulate, long pubescent. Male flower: stamens 2, distinct, glabrous; glands adaxial. Female catkin 3-4 cm; bracts as in male catkin. Female flower: gland as in male flower; ovary long conical, densely gray tomentose; stipe rather long; style short; stigma divided. Fl. May, fr. May-Jun. 2n = 76.

Damp places. Xinjiang (Ertix He valley) [Kazakhstan, Russia; Europe]