Shrubs to 1.2 m tall. Branchlets dark grayish purple, pilose. Petiole 1-3 mm, densely downy; leaf blade oblong or elliptic, 1.5-2.5 × 0.8-1.1 cm, abaxially grayish brown, densely downy, adaxially pilose, densely downy on both surfaces when young, base obtuse or rounded-cuneate, margin entire, apex obtuse. Flowering coetaneous. Male catkin unknown. Female catkin 8-10 mm, shortly pedunculate or subsessile, with 3(or 4) leaflets at base; bracts obovate, glabrous, margin sparsely ciliate. Female flower: adaxial gland cylindric; ovary long ovoid, downy, sessile; style short, 2-lobed; stigma divided. Capsule downy. Fl. Jun, fr. Jun-Jul.

Similar to Salix sclerophylla but branchlets and leaves densely downy; leaf blade oblong or elliptic; bracts of female catkin glabrous, margin sparsely ciliate; female flower with adaxial gland only.

* Streamsides; circa 3800 m. E Xizang