Trees ca. 5 m. One-year-old branchlets brown, glabrous. Buds glabrous; scales raised abaxially. Petiole ca. 1.3 cm, glabrous; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate, 4-9 × 2.5-3 cm, rarely to 18 cm on vigorous shoots, abaxially green or glaucous, adaxially dull green, shiny, both surfaces glabrous, base rounded or subcuneate, margin entire or glandular dentate, apex long acuminate to caudate. Male catkin unknown. Fruiting catkin to 13 cm including distinct peduncle; peduncle with 2 or 3 leaflets, lax; rachis glabrous; bracts brown, ovate, shorter than stipe, glabrous, apex obtuse. Female flower: gland adaxial; ovary long stipitate, apex acute; style indistinct; stigma short, rarely lobed. Capsule ovoid, glabrous, apex acute.