Trees to 25 m tall; bark smooth when young, remaining so or becoming rough, furrowed, and fibrous; crown conical when young, becoming broadly columnar with age, dense; branches ascending, stout; ultimate branchlets 4-angled, 1-2 mm in diam. Leaves bluish green, slightly glaucous, ridged abaxially, with a conspicuous abaxial gland, apex acute. Pollen cones 2-5 × ca. 2 mm; microsporophylls mostly each with 4-6 pollen sacs. Seed cones gray or brown, often glaucous initially, globose or oblong, mostly 2-3 cm; cone scales 6-8, each fertile scale with numerous seeds. Seeds mostly 4-6 mm.

Cultivated. Guangxi, Jiangsu, Jiangxi [native to N Mexico, SW United States]