Shrubs to 4 m tall. Branches brown or russet, glabrous. Buds yellowish red, ovoid, ca. 4 mm. Petiole 3-8 mm, downy; leaf blade ovate or rhombic-ovate, (2-)3-6(-8) × 1-3(-4.5) cm, abaxially pale, white pilose, adaxially green, blackened when dry, slightly wrinkled, pilose, base rounded, margin shallowly serrate, apex shortly acuminate or acute. Male catkin unknown. Female catkin ca. 1.5 × 0.7 cm; peduncle with 2 leaflets; rachis pubescent; bracts oblong, abaxially pilose, adaxially villous. Female flower: gland terete; ovary ovoid, densely pubescent, subsessile; style ca. 1/4 as long as ovary; stigma 2-cleft. Fl. May. fr. Jun.