Small tree or multi-stemmed shrub. Bark peeling in small thin flakes, dark brownish grey, often trunk appearing rather smooth. Shoots green, eventually brown, glabrous. Buds broad-cylindric or cylindric-ovoid, resinous; scales tightly appressed, purplish. Foliage often dense, tending to be directed forward. Lvs 2 per fascicle, (2)-3-7-(9) cm × 1-1.5 mm, dark green, rigid, ± curved but not twisted; apex rather pungent; resin canals marginal; sheath c. 1.5 cm long, soon wearing away except for basal fringe. ♂ strobili < 1 cm long, broad-cylindric. Conelets shortly stalked or subsessile; scales prominently mucronate. Mature cones ± erect, subsessile, not persisting long after maturity, 2.5-5.5 × 2.5-5 cm when open, ovoid or conic-ovoid, dark brown, ± symmetric; apophyses flat or sometimes convex on upper side, especially in slightly asymmetric cones; mucro very small and not armed. Seed wing ± oblong, c. 1 cm long.