Subshrubs small, to 10 cm, monoecious or dioecious; woody stems short, inconspicuous, much branched; green branchlets short, usually with only 2-4 nodes, internodes 1-2 cm × ca. 1.5 mm, smooth or nearly so. Leaves opposite, connate for 1/2-2/3 their length. Pollen cones and seed cones randomly arranged on the branches, but seed cones more often on the middle to distal parts. Pollen cones usually opposite at nodes, ovoid, 3-4 × 2-3 mm; bracts in 4-6 pairs; staminal column exserted, with 4-8 sessile anthers. Seed cones sessile to subsessile, oblong-ovoid at maturity; bracts in 3 pairs, connate for (1/4-)1/3(-2/3) their length, red and fleshy at maturity; integument tube, ca. 1 mm, straight, rarely slightly curved. Seeds 1 or 2, dark brown, not pruinose, ovoid, 4-5 × 2-3 mm, apex acute. Pollination Jun-Jul, seed maturity Aug-Sep.

Dry and rocky slopes; 1900-3800 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan]