Salix clathrata var. rockiana Handel-Mazzetti.

Shrubs procumbent; trunk and branches spreading, not rooting, stout, many branched, appearing fencelike, dull brown. Young branchlets russet, shortly hirsute, glabrescent. Buds ovoid, ca. 3 mm, sparsely pubescent. Petiole red, 4(-7) mm; leaf blade elliptic or obovate, 1.5(-3) × 1(-1.5) cm, leathery, abaxially grayish white, with bloom, glabrescent, adaxially bright green, glabrous, wrinkled, shiny, both ends subrounded, margin entire, revolute; veins raised abaxially, conspicuously impressed adaxially. Flowering precocious. Catkins ellipsoid, ca. 6 × 3 mm, densely flowered; peduncle very short, with 2 or 3 leaflets; rachis stout, pubescent; bracts purplish red distally, obovoid, abaxially and marginally sparsely villous. Male flower: adaxial gland cylindric, abaxial gland broad and short; stamens 2, ca. 3 mm, ca. 3 × as long as bracts, basally villous; anthers red. Fruiting catkin to 2 cm. Female flower: adaxial gland cylindric; ovary ovoid, glabrous, sessile; style conspicuous, 2-cleft; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule narrowly ovoid, ca. 4 mm; stipe short or absent. Fl. Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

A. K. Skvortsov indicates that this species resembles Salix sclerophylla and might be better placed in sect. Sclerophyllae.

* Rocks; circa 4000 m. W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan