Cathaya nanchuanensis Chun & Kuang; Pseudotsuga argyrophylla (Chun & Kuang) Greguss; Tsuga argyrophylla (Chun & Kuang) de Laubenfels & Silba.

Trees to 20 m tall; trunk to 40 cm d.b.h.; bark dark gray, irregularly flaking; branchlets yellow-brown, initially densely gray-yellow pubescent, aging dark yellow and glabrous; winter buds light yellow-brown, ovoid or ovoid-conical. Leaf cushions topped with pale, orbicular or subsquare leaf scars. Leaves dark green adaxially, 4-6 cm × 2.5-3 mm on long branchlets, nearly

clustered into a whorl on short branchlets where usually not longer than 3 cm, puberulent, densely pubescent along grooves, margin slightly revolute. Seed cones green, dark brown when mature, ovoid or ellipsoid, 3-5 × 1.5-3 cm. Seed scales 13-16, suborbicular or compressed orbicular-ovate, 1.5-2.5 × 1-2.5 cm, densely pubescent on exposed part. Bracts 1/4-1/3 as long as seed scales. Seeds dark green mottled with light green, slightly appressed, obliquely ovoid, 5-6 × 3-4 mm; wing yellow-brown, obliquely ovate or elliptic-ovate, 1-1.5 cm × 4-6 mm.

* Mountains, usually on open slopes and ridges; 900-1900 m. NE Guangxi (Jinxiu Yaozu Zizhixian, Longsheng Gezu Zizhixian), N Guizhou (Daozhen Xian, Tongzi), S Hunan, SE Sichuan (Nanchuan Xian, Wulong Xian).