Trees to 15 m tall; trunk to 50 cm d.b.h.; bark gray, scaly, flaking; crown broadly conical; branchlets initially pale yellow or with a little brown, turning gray or yellow-gray in 2nd and 3rd years, finally gray or dark gray, stout, glabrous; winter buds globose, slightly resinous, scales purplish brown, appressed at base and apex of branchlets. Leaves spreading radially, curved and directed forward on upper side of branchlets, spreading and ascending on lower side, quadrangular-linear, longitudinally rhombic in cross section, 1.5-2.5 cm × ca. 2 mm, stomatal lines 4-7 along each surface, apex acute. Seed cones green, maturing pale brown or brown, rarely yellow-green, oblong- or ovoid-cylindric, 8-14 × 5-6.5 cm. Seed scales at middle of cones rhombic-ovate, ca. 2.7 × 2.7-3 cm, distal margin thinner, denticulate or almost entire, apex broadly rounded or obtuse. Seeds obovoid, 5-6 × ca. 3.5 mm; wing obovate, ca. 1 cm. Pollination May, seed maturity Sep-Oct.

An endangered species much in need of protection. The timber is used for construction, poles, furniture, and wood pulp.

* Scattered on mountain slopes and in river basins, or on rocky talus; 1300-2000 m. S Gansu, SW Henan (Neixiang Xian), W Hubei, S Shaanxi, NE Shanxi (Wutai Shan), Sichuan