Shrubs to 2(-3) m tall. Branchlets dull purple or blackish purple, glabrous. Petiole short or almost absent, to 2 mm; leaf blade elliptic or obovate-elliptic, 1.3-2.5 × 0.7-1.2 cm, glabrous, abaxially usually greenish, base rounded-cuneate or attenuate, margin entire, apex obtuse, rounded, or slightly acute. Flowering precocious. Catkins ca. 2 × 1 cm, sessile; bracts black or blackish purple, long elliptic, densely villous, apex obtuse. Male flower: gland 1; stamens 2; filaments partly connate, glabrous; anthers purplish red. Female flower: ovary ovoid or narrowly ovoid, downy, subsessile or sessile; style both short and conspicuous; stigma 2-4-lobed. Capsule shortly stipitate. Fl. May, fr. Jun.
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