Trees to 30 m tall; trunk monopodial or forked near base, to 3 m d.b.h.; bark irregularly flaking, inner bark pale, exfoliating in irregular, thin, scaly patches; crown broadly pyramidal or umbrellalike; 1st-year branchlets gray-green, glabrous; winter buds red-brown, ovoid, not resinous. Needles 3 per bundle, triangular-flabellate in cross section, 5-10 cm × 0.5-2 mm, stiff, vascular bundle 1, resin canals 6 or 7, marginal, rarely 1 or 2 median, base with sheath shed. Seed cones solitary, shortly pedunculate or subsessile, usually pale green, yellowish brown at maturity, ovoid or conical-ovoid, 5-7 × 4-6 cm. Seed scales broadly oblong-cuneate, apex thickened; apophyses subrhombic, obviously transversely ridged; umbo dorsal, triangular, protruding, usually terminating in a recurved spine. Seeds gray-brown, subobovoid, ca. 10 × 5-6 mm; wing loosely attached, ca. 5 mm. Pollination Apr-May, seed maturity Oct-Nov of 2nd year.

* Mountains, hills; 500-1800 m. S Gansu, W Henan, W Hubei (Badong Xian), S Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, N Sichuan