Trees to 45 m tall; trunk to 1.6 m d.b.h. in native range; bark red-brown, forming square or irregularly oblong, scaly plates; crown broadly conical or rounded; branchlets orangish or yellow-brown, aging darker brown, ca. 1 cm in diam., rough; winter buds pale red-brown, conical-cylindric, slightly resinous, scales white fringed at margin. Needles ascending or spreading, dark yellow-green, slightly twisted, (10-)12-18(-23) cm × 1-2 mm, pliant, stomatal lines present on all surfaces, base with persistent sheath 1-2.5 cm, margin finely serrulate. Seed cones nearly terminal, solitary or in small clusters, sessile or subsessile, mostly dull yellow-brown, narrowly ovoid when open, 6-12 cm, maturing in 2 years, then soon shedding seeds. Seed scales without dark border adaxially distally; apophyses dull, rhombic, slightly thickened, variously raised but more so toward base of cone, strongly cross keeled; umbo strongly pyramidal, recurved, tapering to a stoutly based, sharp prickle. Seeds red-brown, obdeltoid, 5-6 mm; wing to 2 cm.

Cultivated. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong (Guangzhou Shi), Guangxi, Henan, Hubei (Wuhan Shi), Hunan, Jiangsu (Nanjing Shi), Jiangxi (Lu Shan), Taiwan, Zhejiang [native to SE United States]