Shrubs appressed or dwarf, to 50 cm tall, much branched. First-year-old branchlets brown, pubescent, glabrescent. Buds chestnut colored, oblong, ca. 8 mm, pilose, apex acute. Petiole very short; leaf blade obovate or elliptic, 0.8-1.5(-4) cm × .(3-) 5-8 mm, white woolly when young, abaxially glabrous except sometimes along veins, adaxially white woolly, base rounded, margin glandular crenate or entire, apex acute or shortly acute; midvein raised abaxially; fallen leaves of previous year rust colored. Catkins pinkish purple, ellipsoid to shortly terete, 1.2-2 × ca. 1 cm; bracts brownish black, oblong-obovate, villous, apex acute or somewhat obtuse. Male flower: gland yellowish red or red, ovate, ca. 0.5 mm; stamens 2; filaments united throughout, 2-3 × as long as bracts; anthers red. Female flower: ovary ovoid, ca. 1.5 mm, woolly, sessile or subsessile; style conspicuous; stigmas 2, purplish red, oblong-ovate. Capsule white woolly. Fl. May, fr. Jun.