Trees to 7 m tall. One-year-old branchlets purplish brown, elongate, tomentose or subglabrous; juvenile branchlets grayish white, densely tomentose. Buds purple, villous, viscid. Petiole terete, 3-6 cm, densely tomentose; leaf blade ovate to broadly ovate, 11-14 cm, abaxially glaucous, densely tomentose, adaxially green, pubescent along veins, base cordate or subrounded, margin glandular crenate-serrate, apex acute or shortly acuminate. Fruiting catkin to 40 cm; rachis pilose. Capsule tomentose, 3-or 4-valved, subsessile. Fl. May, fr. Jun-Jul.