Shrubs dwarf. Branchlets blackened, glabrous. Petiole 5-10 mm, tomentulose; leaf blade oblanceolate, 4-6 × 0.5-1.2 cm, tomentulose when young, glabrescent, abaxially grayish white, adaxially green, base cuneate, margin sparsely serrate, apex acuminate; lateral veins diverging from yellowish midvein at acute angle. Male catkin unknown. Female catkin ovoid, ca. 1 cm, sessile, with 2 lanceolate, scalelike leaflets at base; bracts russet, elliptic-oblong, ca. 1/2 as long as ovary, abaxially sparsely villous. Female flower: adaxial gland terete; ovary ovoid, densely tomentose, subsessile; style short; stigma capitate, 2-cleft. Capsule yellowish, tomentose. Fl. Jun, fr. Jun-Jul.

* Open woods on shaded mountain slopes; 2700-3500 m. Gansu (Min Xian), Qinghai, Shaanxi