Salix hastata var. himalayensis Andersson in Kung. Svvenska Vet.-Akad. Handl. 6: 173. 1867; S. hastata auct. non L.: Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 5: 631. 1888; R. Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 3: 506. 1924; Salix himalayensis (Andersson) Flod. in Geogr. in Ann., Stockh. 17: 306. 1935; S. adenophylloides Flod. in Geogr in. Ann. Stockh. 17: 306. 1935.

Shrub 15-120 cm tall, branched from the base, twigs glabrous shining, dark brown or purplish, stipules ovate rarely lanceolate to subtriangular, margin glandular denticulate. Petiole 2.5-10 mm long. Lamina 2.5-12 x 1-5 cm, ovate, ovate-lancaolate to elliptic, base rotund to subcordate, tip briefly acuminate, usually oblique, clothed with loose tangled silky hairs when young, becoming glabrous, green above, paler beneath, denticulate, teeth gland-tipped. Inflorescence arising at the same time as leaves. Male catkin 2.5-5.5 cm long, subsessile with a few small leaves at the base, densely silky. Bracts 1.5-3 mm long, subspathulate brownish to blackish, densely silky. Stamens 2, filaments 4-6 mm long, free or infrequently united, partly or completely, glabrous. Disk of a solitary erect gland opposite the bract. Female catkin 2.5-5.5 cm long, subsessile, with few small leaves at the base, rachis silky, bracts as in male catkin but longer. Ovary glabrous, stipe twice the length of the disk gland; style long, stigmas usually spreading, branches 2-fid. Fruiting catkin 5-13 cm long, capsule glabrous, 5-8 mm long, ovoid, beaked, stipitate.

Fl. Per.: May to July.

Type: Alatau Dshungaricum, Karelin & Kirilow 1970 (W, LE) and elsewhere. (A. K. Skvortsov l.c. 30. 1969).

Distribution: Afghanistan, Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan (Chitral, Gilgit, Hazara), Kashmir, China (W. Xinjiang), Nepal.

According to Floderus (l.c.) this species is said to hybridize with S. denticulata and S. insignis and hybrids involving the three species are also met with.