Trees monoecious, occasionally dioecious; branches whorled or almost so; winter buds small. Leaves spirally arranged, needlelike to broadly ovate or triangular, varied in shape and size even on same tree. Pollen cones axillary or terminal on branchlets, cylindric, ovoid, or ellipsoid; microsporophylls densely arranged. Seed cones erect, ellipsoid, or ovoid to subglobose; ovulate scales ligulate; bracts of mature cones large, woody, distal part thickened, distal margin sharply and transversely ridged, apex reflexed or upcurved, pointed; seed scales adnate with bracts in basal, seed-bearing part, detached in apical part, sometimes thickened and exposed. Seeds connate with bracts, sometimes with 2 apparent lateral wings formed from bract. Cotyledons usually 2, occasionally 4. Germination hypogeal or epigeal.

Nineteen species: Papua New Guinea; Australia (including Norfolk Island), New Caledonia, South America; three species (introduced) in China.