Large shrub or small tree, young branches pubescent, 1-year old glabrous to subglarous. Leaf stipulate, stipule up to 1.3 cm long, semicordate, serrate. Petiole 7-16 mm long, pubescent. Lamina 5-13 x 1.7-5.1 cm, lanceolate, elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, serrate with gland-tipped teeth; when mature, hairy above on the midrib, glabrous beneath. Plant precocious. Male catkins 2.5-4 cm long, nearly sessile, with few small leaves at the base. Rachis villous. Bracts linear-oblanceolate, silky on both the sides, sometimes glabrate on the back, dark brown. Stamens 2, filaments free, usually glabrous. Gland solitary, erect opposite the bract. Female catkin 5-11 cm long on very short leafy shoot. Rachis villous. Bracts c. 2 mm long. Disk half surrounding the base of the ovary. Ovary glabrous, stipe 0.5 mm long, style filiform stigmas diverging, entire or bifid. Fruiting catkin 10-18 cm long. Capsule glabrous; 6-7 mm long, stipe 1 mm long.