Trees. One-year-old branchlets reddish or reddish black, rarely pruinose. Stipules present; leaf blade lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, glabrous, margin serrulate or serrate, apex acuminate. Flowering precocious. Catkins cylindric, sessile; bracts 2-colored (or nearly reddish black), densely long pubescent. Male flower: gland solitary, adaxial; stamens 2, distinct; anthers yellow or yellowish red. Female flower: ovary glabrous or pilose, long stipitate; style long, usually entire; stigma slender, entire or 2-lobed.