Trees to 20 m, monoecious; bark brownish gray or gray; branches drooping to pendulous; branchlet systems tapering and gradually becoming shorter from base to apex of system; branchlets loosely arranged, ascending, straight or slightly curved, terete or 4-angled, thick, ultimate ones 1.2-1.5 mm in diam. Leaves decussate, occasionally in whorls of 3 on leading branches, scalelike, ovate-triangular or triangular-lanceolate, 1.5-3.5(-6) mm, without cuticular wax, abaxial gland near base, ovate or elliptic, leaf apex acute, rarely obtuse, slightly incurved but free. Pollen cones ovoid or globose, 2-3 mm; microsporophylls usually 10, each with 2 or 3 pollen sacs. Seed cones erect, purplish black or black when ripe, slightly glaucous, lustrous, ovoid or subglobose, 8-10(-12) mm, 1-seeded. Seeds ovoid, rarely obovoid, 6-8.5 mm, obtusely ridged, narrowed by resin pits toward base.
Deep gorges and on rocky or grass-covered slopes in semi-arid mountains and plateaus. Forests, often as the dominant species, usually on dry, steep, sunny slopes; at elevations fom 2,110-4,000 metres.
Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.
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