Plants 0.2-1.2 m. Stems: branches red-brown or yellow-brown, not glaucous (dull or slightly glossy), pubescent; branchlets red-brown or yellow-brown, (not or strongly glaucous), pubescent, villous, or short-silky, (inner membranaceous bud-scale layer free, not separating from outer layer). Leaves: stipules absent or rudimentary on early ones, foliaceous on late ones, apex acute or convex; petiole shallowly to deeply grooved adaxially, 2.5-7.5 mm, pubescent; largest medial blade elliptic to obovate, 23-63 × 10-35 mm, 1.4-2.8 times as long as wide, base convex or rounded, sometimes cordate or subcordate, margins flat, serrulate or sinuate, apex convex, rounded, acute, or acuminate, abaxial surface glaucous, glabrous, adaxial slightly glossy, glabrous or sparsely pubescent on midrib, (hairs white, sometimes also ferruginous); proximal blade margins serrulate or crenulate; juvenile blade sometimes reddish, glabrous, or midrib sparsely pubescent abaxially, hairs white, sometimes also ferruginous. Catkins flowering as leaves emerge; staminate stout, 17-29.5 × 8-11 mm, flowering branchlet 3.5-12 mm; pistillate moderately densely flowered, slender, stout, or subglobose, 10-37.5 (-45 in fruit) × 5-12 mm, flowering branchlet 2.5-16 mm; floral bract brown or bicolor, 0.8-1.6 mm, apex rounded, convex or retuse, abaxially hairy throughout or proximally, hairs straight, curly, or wavy. Staminate flowers: adaxial nectary oblong, square, or ovate, 0.3-1 mm; filaments distinct, glabrous; anthers yellow, 0.4-0.8 mm. Pistillate flowers: adaxial nectary square or oblong, 0.2-0.6 mm, shorter than stipe; stipe 0.8-2 mm; ovary pyriform, glabrous, beak gradually tapering to or slightly bulged below styles; ovules 12-18 per ovary; styles 0.4-1 mm; stigmas flat, abaxially non-papillate with pointed tip, or broadly cylindrical, 0.2-0.3-0.36 mm. Capsules 3-6 mm.
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