Trees to 35 m tall; trunk to 90 cm d.b.h.; bark gray to dark gray, longitudinally fissured, scaly; crown ovoid-conical; branchlets initially yellowish brown, aging gray-brown or gray, slender, ca. 1 mm in diam., glabrous or pubescent; short branchlets 2-4 mm in diam., yellowish hairy at apex; winter buds subglobose, scales dark brown. Leaves 1.5-3 cm × 0.7-1 mm, keeled abaxially. Seed cones purplish red, maturing yellow-brown or purplish brown, ovoid or ovoid-oblong, 1.2-4 × 1-3 cm. Seed scales 14-45, pentagonal-ovate, 1-1.5 × 0.8-1.2 cm at middle of cone, glabrous and glossy abaxially, margin truncate or emarginate toward apex. Bracts ovate-lanceolate, 1/3-1/2 as long as seed scales, apex cuspidate. Seeds grayish with light brown spots, obliquely ovoid, ca. 10 mm including wing. Pollination May-Jun, seed maturity Sep.

The timber is used for construction, poles, vehicles, bridge building, and wood fiber. The trunk is used for producing resin, and the bark for tannins. The species is also cultivated for afforestation and as an ornamental.

Hills, mountains, rocky slopes, peatlands, swamps, lowland subarctic plains, river basins, valleys; 300-2800 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, NW Henan, Jilin, Nei Mongol, Shanxi [Korea, Mongolia, E Russia]