Alnus fruticosa Ruprecht var. mandshurica Callier ex C. K. Schneider, Ill. Handb. Laubholzk. 1: 121. 1904; Duschekia mandshurica (Callier ex C. K. Schneider) Pouzar.

Shrubs or trees to 10 m tall; bark dark gray, smooth. Branchlets gray-brown, glabrous. Buds sessile, with 3-6 scales. Petiole robust, 0.5-2 cm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, sometimes resinous glandular; leaf blade broadly ovate, ovate, elliptic, or broadly elliptic, 4-10 × 2.5-8 cm, both surfaces glabrous except bearded in axils of lateral veins abaxially, base rounded or subcordate, rarely broadly cuneate or unequal, margin densely minutely doubly or simply serrate, apex acute; lateral veins 7-13 on each side of midvein. Female inflorescences 3-6 in a raceme, oblong or globose, 1-2 cm; peduncles pendulous, 0.5-2(-3) cm, slender, glabrous or sparsely pubescent; bracts 3-4 mm, woody, base cuneate, apex rounded, 5-lobed. Nutlet ca. 2 mm, with membranous wings ca. as wide as nutlet. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug.

Temperate forests, streamsides; 200-1900 m. Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol [N Korea, Russia (Far East)]