Shrubs creeping. Branches russet; juvenile branchlets grayish white villous at base. Buds russet, ovoid, small. Leaf blade spatulate-obovate or elliptic, 0.9-1.5 cm × 5-10 mm, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin regularly glandular serrate or crenate, more densely so distally, apex rounded or obtuse. Flowering coetaneous. Catkins lateral, ca. 1.5 cm, many and slightly loosely flowered; peduncle slightly elongate, with several leaflets; rachis sparsely downy; bracts obovate-oblong, glabrous, apex rounded-truncate. Male flower: adaxial gland larger than abaxial one or 2-cleft; stamens 2, free; filaments glabrous, ca. 5 mm; anthers ellipsoid. Bracts of female catkin oblong, glabrous. Female flower: gland adaxial; ovary glabrous, shortly stipitate; style coarse; stigma 2-lobed.

Mountains; 3600-4000 m. W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, Kashmir, Sikkim]