Shrubs to 4 m tall. Branchlets dark purple-red, glabrous. Buds purple-red, broadly ovate, ca. 5 mm, glabrous, apex obtuse. Petiole 0.6-1.4 cm, russet pubescent adaxially; leaf blade obovate-oblong, 5-9 × 2.2-4.2 cm, abaxially pale or somewhat glaucous, villous at first, glabrescent, adaxially green and glabrous or russet pubescent along midvein near leaf base; base subrounded or broadly cuneate, margin entire or sparsely denticulate, apex contorted apiculate. Male catkin unknown. Fruiting catkin 5-7 cm × ca. 7 mm; peduncle 2.5-4 cm, with 3 or 4 leaflets; rachis puberulent; bracts broadly oblong, ca. 2.5 mm, abaxially and marginally loosely pilose or subglabrous, adaxially glabrous, apex obtuse-rounded or undulate-denticulate. Female flower: gland adaxial; ovary ovoid-conical, glabrous, sessile or subsessile; style ca. 1 mm, 2-lobed; stigma 2-lobed. Fr. Jul.

* Mountains near rivers; 1300-1900 m. Yunnan (Gongshan Drungzu Nuzu Zizhixian)