Shrubs to 3.5 m tall. Branches dull brown, glabrous; branchlets rarely pilose. Petiole 3-9 mm, glabrous, rarely pilose; leaf blade elliptic, lanceolate, or elliptic-oblong, rarely ovate, 2-4(-5.5) × 1.2-2.4 cm, abaxially glaucous, glabrous, rarely pilose when young, adaxially dull green, glabrous or subglabrous, base broadly cuneate, attenuate, or rounded, margin entire, apex acute or apiculate; veins raised abaxially. Male catkin 2.5-4.5 cm × 5-6 mm; peduncle 3-10 mm; rachis glabrous or pilose; bracts brown, obovate, glabrous. Male flower: adaxial gland ovoid, ca. 1/2 as long as bracts, apex retuse, abaxial gland absent; stamens 2; filaments villous proximally; anthers yellow, globose. Female catkin 2.5-5(-7.5) cm × 5-7 mm, densely flowered, shortly pedunculate; bracts broadly ovate, ca. 1/4 as long as capsule, glabrous, apex acute. Female flower: gland adaxial; ovary long ovoid; style 2-cleft; stigma short. Capsule ovoid, ca. 2.5 mm, subsessile. Fl. May, fr. May-Jun.

* Mountain slopes, roadsides, valleys; 1400-2700 m. Gansu, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan.