Shrubs to 2 m tall. Branchlets greenish or yellowish, glabrous. Buds yellowish brown, ovoid, glabrous. Stipules small, usually caducous; petiole 2-5 mm; leaf blade obovate-elliptic or elliptic, 3-7 × 2-3 cm, abaxially pale, adaxially green, base broadly cuneate, margin entire, rarely remotely dentate, apex obtuse or acuminate. Flowering coetaneous. Catkins 2-3 cm; peduncle short, with leaflets; bracts russet, oblong or obovate, pilose at base. Male flower: gland entire or 2-lobed; stamens 2, connate, downy. Female flower: ovary conical, tomentose, stipitate or subsessile; style short; stigma 2-cleft. Capsule 5-6 mm, long pubescent. Fl. May, fr. Jun.

Damp places. Nei Mongol [Mongolia, Russia (SC Siberia)]