Leaves: petiole 4-16 mm; largest medial blade narrowly to broadly elliptic or obovate, 25-46 × 10-20 mm, 1.6-3.4 times as long as wide, base convex, apex convex, acute, acuminate, or rounded, abaxial surface glabrous, sparsely pubescent, or pilose. Catkins: staminate 23-46 × 8-11 mm, flowering branchlet 3-24 mm; pistillate stout to subglobose, 28-48 × 10-28 mm, flowering branchlet 5-22 mm. Staminate flowers: abaxial nectary 0.8-1.1 mm, adaxial nectary 0.7-1.1 mm, nectaries connate and cup-shaped. Pistillate flowers: abaxial nectary absent, adaxial nectary ovate, 0.5-1.9 mm; stipe 0.2-1.4 mm; ovary often glaucous, glabrous. Capsules 5.2-9.6 mm.

Flowering early Jul-late Aug. Arctic, coastal beach ridges, sand spits, tundra meadows; 10-30 m; N.W.T., Yukon; Alaska.