Small to medium-sized tree to 12 m tall. Juvenile leaves ovate-lanceolate and slightly acuminate, up to 8 cm by 32 mm. Adult leaves ovate and, unlike most adult Agathis leaves, often wider before the middle, 3-4 cm by 10-20 mm, rounded and blunt at the apex or very slightly angled, tapering at the base to a 3-5 mm petiole. Mature pollen cones 20-35 by 8-9 mm, subtended by a 2-8 mm peduncle, the apex of the microsporophyll helmet-shaped, 2 by 1.8 mm, the apex slightly angled. Seed cone oval, 6-7 by 7-8 cm. Seed bract with a thick ridge along the apical margin, broadly rounded at the upper corners, a large scallop more than one cm from the base on one side and a smaller c. 6 mm scallop on the other, 26-29 by 35-37 mm. Seed oval, c. 11 by 9 mm, blunt at one upper corner and with a broad wing 17 by 14 mm at its widest at the other corner.
Scattered trees above a low summit scrub, 1200-1800 m, the leaves often yellow, suggesting adaptation to difficult nutrient conditions.