Trees to 30 m, rarely shrubs, monoecious, rarely dioecious; branchlets densely or loosely arranged, mostly straight, terete or slightly 4-angled, 1-2 mm in diam. Leaves both scalelike and needlelike; needlelike leaves usually present on seedlings and young plants, in whorls of 3, 4-8 mm; scalelike leaves decussate, sometimes in whorls of 3, ovate-rhombic, obtuse, 1-3 mm, abaxial gland central, conspicuous, slightly depressed, linear-elliptic or linear. Pollen cones subglobose, ca. 2 mm in diam.; microsporophylls 6-8, each with 2 or 3 pollen sacs. Seed cones erect, brown, black, or purplish black when ripe, ovoid or subglobose, 0.9-1.6 × 0.7-1.3 cm, 1-seeded. Seeds ovoid, rarely obovoid or globose, 7-11 × 6-8 mm, with deep resin pits.
Picea forests, forming groves or small forests at high elevations, growing on rocky slopes and ridges, as well as old gravel terraces, on rocky soils from siliceous as well as calcareous parent material; at elevations from 2,600-4,900 metres.
Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.
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