Shrubs. Branches short. Leaves usually small or medium-sized; leaf blade elliptic, oblong, or ovate to obovate, rarely suborbicular or lanceolate, abaxially greenish, pale or pruinose, pubescent when young, margin entire or dentate. Flowering nearly coetaneous, but young leaves very small at anthesis. Catkins slender, pedunculate; bracts yellowish green or reddish, usually nearly spatulate at apex, usually glabrous or ciliate. Male flower: gland solitary, adaxial; stamens 2, distinct, pilose proximally; anthers yellow, rarely red. Female flower: ovary ovoid, glabrous or rarely pilose, sessile or shortly stipitate; style short; stigma 2-lobed.