Tree to 10 m or more tall, with spreading, open branching. Bark white, powdery. Branchlets quite thick, glandular with conspicuous white resin dots. Leaves well separated on the branchlets, thick, to about 9 cm long, dark blue-green, shiny above, stalks rigid. Female catkins 3-5 cm long; bracts of catkins with a central lobe pointing forwards, lateral lobes spreading. [B. platyphylla Sukaczev var. szechuanica (C.K. Schneid.) Rehder]

SW China

Distinctive sparse habit; thick blue-green leaves with rigid stalks; bark powdery white.

Source: Spencer, R. (1997). Betulaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.