Trees to 15 m tall; trunk to 50 cm d.b.h. Branchlets brownish or yellowish green, at first tomentulose, glabrescent. Buds brownish, ovoid-oblong, tomentulose. Stipules usually caducous; petiole 5-10 mm, apex glandular tomentose; leaf blade lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, 6-10 × 1.5-3 cm, abaxially light green, glabrous or pilose when young, adaxially green, base broadly cuneate or cuneate, margin coarsely glandular serrate, apex acuminate or long acuminate. Flowering nearly coetaneous. Male catkin 3-5 cm × 5-10 mm; peduncle tomentose, base with 3 or 4 leaflets; bracts brownish or yellowish green, lanceolate, adaxially downy. Male flower: stamens 3-8; filaments free, tomentose at base; anthers globose. Female catkin unknown. Fl. May.

Similar to Salix cavaleriei but leaf blade coarsely glandular serrate at margin; bracts brownish, lanceolate; filaments tomentose at base. A. K. Skvortsov believes that S. burqinensis resembles S. pentandra. The specific epithet was spelled "bulkingensis" in FRPS.

A fast-growing tree, used for timber

* Riversides, usually mixed with Salix alba; circa 500 m. N Xinjiang