Trees to 40 m tall; trunk to 3 m d.b.h.; bark gray-brown, rough, scaly, flaking; crown broadly conical; long branchlets initially reddish brown or reddish yellow, glossy, glabrous, becoming yellowish gray, brownish gray, or rarely purplish brown in 2nd or 3rd year, finally gray or dark gray; short branchlets slow growing, bearing dense rings of leaf cushions; winter buds ovoid, scales free at apex. Leaves bluish green adaxially, pale green abaxially, slightly curved or straight, 2-5.5 cm × 1.5-4 mm, slightly keeled adaxially, stomatal lines present on abaxial surface, midvein prominent abaxially, apex acute. Seed cones green or yellow-green, maturing reddish brown, obovoid or ovoid, 5-7.5 × 4-5 cm. Seed scales ovate-lanceo late, 2.8-3.5 × ca. 1.7 cm, with a longitudinal, central, densely pubescent ridge adaxially, base with 2 lateral auricles, apex emarginate. Bracts ovate-lanceolate, 1/4-1/3 as long as seed scales, margin denticulate. Seeds white, ovoid, 6-7 mm; wing light yellow or brownish yellow, glossy adaxially, triangular-lanceolate, circa 2.5 cm. Pollination Apr, seed maturity Oct
Evergreen and deciduous, broad-leaved mixed, forests; at elevations from 100-1,500 metres.