Small tree or large shrub to c. 6 m high, with rough bark; habit dense and bushy. Shoots dark reddish or brownish purple, hairy when young, rather brittle. Buds reddish brown, hairy. Petiole < 5 mm long. Lamina 5-14 × 0.3-1 cm, linear or linear-lanceolate, dark shining green above, with white woolly tomentum below, bitter to taste; margins minutely glandular-serrulate, often revolute; apex attenuate. Stipules minute or 0. Catkins ♀, appearing before lvs, cylindric, ± erect, 2-3 cm long; rachis densely hairy. Bracts 1.7-2.5 mm long, ± oblong, very pale green with uppermost part soon becoming brown, hairy, especially around apex; apex rounded to emarginate. Gland 1, c. 0.3-0.5 mm long, broad- or triangular-oblong, sometimes wider than long. Ovary sessile, glabrous.