Shrubs to 3 m tall; bark grayish green. Branchlets yellowish or reddish, glabrous, shiny. Buds yellowish brown, ovoid, glabrous, apex acute. Leaves subopposite or opposite, sometimes in whorls of 3 on shoots; petiole short or subsessile, somewhat clasping; leaf blade elliptic-oblong, 2-5 × 1-2 cm, both surfaces pale green, glabrous, base rounded or retuse, margin entire or sharply dentate distally, apex shortly acuminate; midvein brown, russet when young. Flowering precocious. Catkins 1-2(-2.5) cm, with leaflets at base; bracts brown to nearly black, obovate, downy, rarely glabrous. Male flower: stamens 2, connate, glabrous; anthers red or dull red. Female flower: ovary long ovoid, downy, subsessile; style short; stigma red, 2-4-lobed. Capsule 2-3 mm, pilose. Fl. May, fr. Jun.
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