Trees to 25 m tall; trunk to over 1 m d.b.h.; bark grayish brown or dark gray, scaly; crown flat topped; 1st-year branchlets light grayish brown, light brown, or yellowish brown, thick, glabrous; winter buds oblong, slightly resinous. Needles 2(or 3) per bundle, dark green, semiorbicular in cross section, 6-15 cm × 1-1.5 mm, resin canals 5-9, marginal, rarely 1 or 2 median, base with persistent sheath initially 1-2 cm. Pollen cones 5-9 mm. Seed cones shortly pedunculate, initially green, turning yellowish brown to brown at maturity, ovoid to ovoid-globose, 2.5-9 × 4-9 cm, usually persistent for a few years. Seed scales suboblong-obovate, 1.6-2 × ca. 1.4 cm; apophyses swollen, broadly or irregularly rhombic, ridged or not, cross keeled; umbo protruding into a spine. Seeds pale brown, mottled, ovoid or narrowly so, 6-8 × 4-5 mm (1.5-1.8 cm including wing). Pollination Apr-May, seed maturity Oct of 2nd year.

The timber is used for construction, poles, mine timber, ship building, and furniture. The trunk can be used as a source of resin, the bark for tannin, and the needles for medicine.

Hills, mountains; 100-2600 m. Gansu, Hebei, Henan, W Hubei, Hunan, S Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan [Korea]