Plants 0.005-0.02 m. Leaves: petiole 0.4-1.1-2.8 mm; largest medial blade 2.9-6.1-7.4 × 3-3.4-5.6 mm, 0.84-1.5-2.2 times as long as wide. Catkins: staminate shape indeterminate, 3.3-8 × 2.5-6 mm, flowering branchlet 0.5-3 mm; pistillate: 2-4-9 flowers, shape indeterminate, 4.5-10.5 × 2-7 mm, flowering branchlet 0.5-3 mm; floral bract hairs usually wavy, crinkled, or curly, rarely straight, exceeding bract by 0.1-0.37-0.75 mm. Staminate flowers: abaxial nectary 0.6-1 mm. Pistillate flowers: abaxial nectary absent, adaxial nectary oblong, narrowly oblong, or flask-shaped, 0.8-1.9 mm; stigmas flat, abaxially non-papillate with pointed tip, or slenderly cylindrical, 0.28-0.34-0.44 mm. Capsules 3.8-5.5 mm. 2n = 38. Flowering Jul. Arctic-alpine, Dryas tundra, Empetrum tussock tundra, sedge-shrub tundra, grassy tundra, moss tundra on alluvial fans and floodplains, dry and windswept ridges, moist scree, talus slopes, limestone substrates; 150-3400 m; N.W.T., Yukon; Alaska, Mont., Wyo.; e Asia (Chukotka, Russian Far East, Wrangel Island).