Trees to 45 m tall; trunk to 1 m d.b.h.; bark grayish brown, furrowed into irregular, rough, scaly plates; branchlets initially brownish yellow or reddish brown, turning brown or brownish gray in 2nd or 3rd year, pubescent or glabrous; winter buds conical or ovoid-conical, resinous, scales appressed or slightly recurved in apical buds, ± recurved at base of branchlets, keeled. Leaf cushions glaucous, rigid. Leaves directed forward or ascending on upper side of branchlets, parted and spreading laterally on lower side, glaucous or not, linear, slightly curved, ± quadrangular-rhombic in cross section, 1-2 cm × 1-2 mm, stomatal lines 4-8 along each surface, apex acute or slightly pungent. Seed cones green, maturing pale brown or reddish brown, cylindric-oblong or cylindric, 5-16 × 2.5-3.5 cm, apex obtuse. Seed scales at middle of cones obovate, ca. 2 × 1.5 cm, margin entire or denticulate, apex rarely 2-lobed. Seeds obovoid, ca. 4 mm; wing pale brown, obovate-oblong, ca. 1.1 cm. Pollination Apr-May, seed maturity Sep-Oct.

The timber is used for construction, aircraft, railway sleepers, furniture, and wood fiber. The trunk is used for producing resin, and the roots, branches, and leaves for producing aromatic oils.

* Mountains, river basins; 2400-3600 m. E and S Gansu, N Ningxia, Qinghai, SW Shaanxi, Sichuan, ?SE Xizang