Trees to 18(-25) m tall; trunk to 50 cm d.b.h.; bark grayish brown, furrowed. Branchlets russet, slender, at first tomentulose, glabrescent, grayish brown when mature. Stipules deltoid-ovate, glandular serrulate; petiole 6-10 mm, downy, apex glandular; leaf blade broadly lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, or narrowly elliptic, 4-11 × 2-4 cm, abaxially greenish, adaxially green, both surfaces glabrous when mature, reddish when young, base cuneate or rounded, margin serrulate, apex acuminate to long acuminate, rarely acute. Flowering coetaneous. Male catkin 3-4.5 cm × ca. 8 mm; peduncle long, with 2 or 3(or 4) leaflets; bracts ovate-orbicular to deltoid, both surfaces downy and ciliate. Male flower: stamens 6-8(-12); glands 2. Female catkin 2-3.5 cm; bracts as in male catkin. Female flower: adaxial gland broad, semiclasping stipe, abaxial gland usually 2-or 3-lobed; ovary stipitate. Capsule ovoid, ca. 6 mm, glabrous, distinctly stipitate. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. Apr-May.
Riversides, damp forest margins; at elevations from 1,800-2,500 metres.