Trees to 40 m tall; bark red-brown, flaking; branchlets dark gray-brown; winter buds red-brown or pale to yellowish brown, ovoid to oblong-ovoid, resinous. Needles 2 per bundle, blue-green, semiorbicular in cross section, (0.5-)3-14 cm × 1-2 mm, stiff, stomatal lines present on all surfaces, vascular bundles 2, resin canals 6-8, marginal, base usually twisted, with persistent sheath. Seed cones dull yellow-brown at maturity, conical-ovoid, 3-6 cm. Apophyses broadly rhombic, flat or shortly pyramidal; umbo small, blunt or mucronate.

Mountains, river basins, dry rocky slopes; 400-1600 m. Heilongjiang, Jilin, N Nei Mongol; cultivated in Beijing Shi, Liaoning (Gai Xian) [Kazakhstan, N Mongolia, Russia; SW Asia, Europe]