Forewing pale brick red; the median and narrow terminal area brown; upper stigmata prominently pale ochreous grey with dark centres; teeth of outer line very long, the veins dark beyond; hindwing dirty grey; veins and a diffuse terminal shade darker — lepetitii Bsd.

is wholly red brown, without the pale submarginal band, the stigmata without pale edging; — suffusa Tutt is an extreme form in which the dark median shade is expanded to cover the whole forewing, making it deep blackish red; — rufa Tutt is pale bright red, much paler than the type.

— Larva green or reddish, with darker mottling; dorsal and subdorsal lines pale; a row of dark lateral oblique stripes; spiracular line pale greenish.

They suck on flowering catkins, their very early flight time runs largely parallel to the willow blossom (Salix).

The larvae feed on Vaccinium myrtillus, Prunus spinosa and Salix, Rumex, Rhinanthus and Galium species.