Trees to 25 m tall; trunk to 1 m d.b.h.; bark pale gray, aging dull gray, smooth when young, furrowed with age into scaly plates; crown conical; 1st-year branchlets initially green, aging yellow-brown, densely pale yellow pubescent; winter buds ovoid, not resinous. Needles 5 per bundle, slightly curved, triangular in cross section, 3.5-5.5 cm × 0.7-0.9 mm, stomatal lines present along abaxial surfaces, white, vascular bundle 1, base with sheath shed. Seed cones subsessile, ovoid or ovoid-ellipsoid, 4-7.5 × 3.5-4.5 cm. Seed scales obovate-rhombic or oblong-obovate, 2-3 × 1.8-2 cm; apophyses pale brown or dull gray-brown, almost rhombic; umbo terminal, sunken, margin recurved distally. Seeds nearly brown, mottled with black, irregularly obovoid, 8-10 × ca. 7 mm; wing ca. 1 cm.

Commonly used as a garden tree or for bonsai.

Widely cultivated in cities in the Chang Jiang basin and Shandong [native to Japan]