Tree to c. 25 m high, but usually much < 15 m; bark dark greyish, fissured. Branchlets and shoots spreading to erect, usually yellow or orange-yellow, sometimes olive, greenish brown or red, tough and flexible, not snapping, soon glabrous. Buds glabrous and brown, or whitish hairy. Petiole of lvs on reproductive branches usually < 1 cm long. Lamina 4-13 × 1-2-(2.7) cm, lanceolate, ± shining and usually soon becoming glabrous on upper surface, glaucous and usually eventually glabrous on lower surface, sometimes persistently silky hairy on both surfaces, glandular-serrulate, sparsely to densely ciliate; apex acute or short-acuminate. Stipules minute. Catkins ♂ or ♀, appearing with lvs, narrow-cylindric. ♂ catkins to 4 cm long, spreading and often tending to curve downwards; rachis villous. Bracts 2-4 mm long, ovate-elliptic, elliptic-oblong or ± oblong, pale green, hairy; margins strongly incurved; apex obtuse or acute. Glands 2, the larger anterior one 0.4-0.5 mm long, oblong to square. Stamens 2; filaments hairy towards base. ♀ catkins similar to ♂; gland 1 (anterior), 0.4-0.5 mm long, broader than long to semi-annular. Ovary sessile, glabrous.