Pyramidal, columnar or umbrella-shaped trees with regularly whorled branches, often becoming flat-headed with age, mostly monoecious, sometimes dioecious. Bark resinous, the surface peeling. Lvs persistent for many years, sometimes pungent-tipped, large and subulate to ovate, or small and scale-like, often closely set and imbricate. ♂ strobili (cones) large, solitary or fascicled. ♀ cones globose to nearly ovoid, ripening in 2-3 years; scales becoming woody, sometimes winged; ovule adherent to scale by ligule (outgrowth of scale). Mature cone often massive; seed ± immersed in ligular outgrowth.