Deciduous tree or shrub, dioecious, up to 25 m in height, irregular in shape. Trunk \u00b1 straight, robust, up to 1 m in diameter, with greyish-brown bark, almost blackish and longitudinally fissured in the older specimens. Branches extended-erect, rarely pendulous. Branchlets often pendulous, initially tomentose, then turning glabrous, green. Buds villous-silky. Leaves alternate, 5-13 \u00d7 1-3.5 cm, deciduous, clearly lanceolate, with serrated margin; at first densely villous-silky and at maturity glabrescent on the upper side and \u00b1 hairy on the underside, green on the upper side and whitish or glaucous-bluish on the underside. Petiole short, with simple glands at the junction with the leaf blade. Stipules small, similar to the leaves. Inflorescence in erect or slightly pendant aments, alternate, pedunculate, coeval with the leaves. Rachis villous and floral bracts of a single colour, caducous. Male flower with 2 nectaries and 2 stamens with free filaments. Female flower with only 1 nectary and sessile or subsessile ovary, glabrous. Fruit a capsule that opens into 2 ovoid valves, acute, which are curved backwards, just showing the seeds surrounded by numerous long white hairs, cottony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-12213","species","type-species","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n