Shrubs to 4 m tall. Branchlets greenish or yellowish, glabrous; juvenile branchlets tomentulose at first, glabrescent. Buds russet, long ovoid or oblong, at first pilose, glabrescent. Leaves opposite or obliquely opposite; stipules ovate-lanceolate or obliquely ovate; petiole 3-10 mm, tomentose; leaf blade lanceolate, 5-10 × 1-1.2 cm, to 11 × 2-3 cm on shoots, tomentulose when young, glabrescent, abaxially glaucous, adaxially greenish, base cuneate, margin glandular serrate, apex shortly acuminate; lateral veins diverging from yellowish midvein at obtuse angle. Flowering precocious. Catkins opposite or alternate, terete. Male catkin ellipsoid, 2-3 cm × 5-6 mm, sessile; leaflets 2 or 3, scalelike, with long hairs at base abaxially; bracts black, ovate, villous, apex obtuse or subacute sharp. Male flower: stamens 2, connate throughout; filaments slender, glabrous; anthers 4-loculed, yellow or reddish, globose. Female flower: ovary ovoid, densely gray tomentose, shortly stipitate; style 0.1-0.2 mm; stigma capitate. Fl. Apr, fr. May.
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