Plants small, cushion-shaped, 10-25 cm tall, densely branched; older branches stout, with persistent black-brown petioles; annual branches 1.5-5 cm. Leaves dense, small; petiole subequaling leaf blade, clasping, persistent; leaf blade elliptic or oblong-ovate, ca. 1 × 0.3 cm, base attenuate, margin revolute, apex rounded. Male inflorescence short, crowded, subcapitate. Female flowers 2; floral tube cylindric, ca. 0.5 cm, shorter than or equaling spreading, auriculate free part, abaxially shortly hairy or 4-fascicular long villous in fruit. Utricle ellipsoid, hairy. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug.

Slopes, gravelly flats, high cold desert communities; 3500-5000 m. Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Xizang [Tajikistan].