Trees to 20 m tall; trunk to 60 cm d.b.h. branchlets slender, dark red-brown, turning dark gray-brown, initially densely brown pubescent, glabrous in 2nd or 3rd year; winter buds brown, not resinous. Needles 5 per bundle, thick, slightly incurved, triangular in cross section, 2.5-6 cm × 1-1.5 mm, stiff, vascular bundle 1, resin canals 3, median, base with sheath shed. Seed cones solitary or 2 or 3 clustered at base of branchlets, pedunculate (peduncle 1.5-2 cm), yellowish brown, brown, or dark gray-brown at maturity, oblong-ellipsoid or cylindric-ovoid, 4.5-9 × 2-4.5 cm. Seed scales subobovate, 2-3 × 1.5-2 cm; apophyses transversely rhombic, margin thin, slightly incurved, rarely slightly recurved on middle or basal seed scales; umbo sunken, not swollen. Seeds pale brown, ellipsoid-ovoid, 8-10 × ca. 6 mm; wing ca. 16 × 7 mm.

An endangered species in China. The Vietnamese plants may represent a different taxon, perhaps better placed within Pinus dalatensis Ferré, which is endemic to Vietnam.

The timber is used for construction, bridge building, and making poles and furniture.

Lectotypified by LIN Qi & CAO Ziyu. 2007. Acta Bot. Yunnan. 29(3): 291. 2007.

Scattered in evergreen broad-leaved forests on limestone hillsides, where only fragmented populations remain on inaccessible cliffs; 500-1800 m. SE Yunnan (Malipo Xian, Xichou Xian) [?Vietnam]