Trees to 40 m tall; trunk to 3 m d.b.h.; bark light reddish brown, peeling off in thin strips; crown narrowly pyramidal; branches drooping to pendulous. Leaves of ultimate branchlets ridged abaxially, apex obtuse or subacute; facial leaves green or yellowish green, rhomboid, 1-1.5 mm, abaxial gland absent; leaves on lower side of branchlets glaucous, with a whitish basal part; lateral leaves 1-3 mm, apex incurved. Pollen cones ellipsoid, ca. 3 mm; microsporophylls ca. 12; pollen sacs yellow. Seed cones reddish brown when ripe, globose, 1-1.2 cm in diam.; cone scales 8-10, each fertile scale with 2-5 seeds. Seeds lustrous reddish brown, obovoid or suborbicular, flattened, 3-3.5 mm in diam., including wings. Pollination Apr, seed maturity Oct-Nov.

Forests in mountain regions, also cultivated for ornament and planted for timber and afforestation; below 2800 m. Native in Taiwan; introduced in Guangdong, Guangxi, Henan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan].