Trees to 35 m tall; trunk to 1 m d.b.h.; bark gray, fissured into square plates or shed; crown conical or cylindric-pyramidal; branchlets green, gray-green, or -brown, glaucous, turning brown when dry, glabrous; winter buds almost cylindric, slightly resinous. Needles 5(-7) per bundle, triangular in cross section, 8-15 cm × 1-1.5 mm, vascular bundle 1, resin canals 3(-7), median or 2 marginal. Pollen cones erect or drooping, slender or stout, cylindric or ovoid-ellipsoid. Seed cones pedunculate (peduncle 2-3 cm), green, maturing yellow or brown-yellow, conical-cylindric, dehiscent at maturity, shedding seeds. Seed scales rhombic-obovate, 3-4 × 2.5-3 cm; apophyses rhombic or triangular, not ridged, apex obtuse-rounded or acuminate, not recurved or slightly recurved; umbo not obvious. Seeds yellow-brown, dark brown, or black, obovoid, 1-1.5 cm × 6-10 mm, wingless or abaxial margin ridged, rarely shortly winged. Pollination Apr-May, seed maturity Sep-Oct of 2nd year.

The timber is used for construction, railway sleepers, furniture, and wood fiber.

Mountains, river basins; 1000-3300 m. S Gansu, C and NW Guizhou, Hainan, SW Henan, W Hubei, S Shaanxi, S Shanxi, Sichuan, C Taiwan, SE Xizang, Yunnan [N Myanmar]