Trees to 30 m tall; trunk to 2 m d.b.h.; bark gray-brown, thick, scaly; crown globose or umbrellalike; branchlets dark brown, glabrous; winter buds brown, cylindric. Needles 2 per bundle, semiorbicular in cross section, 15-27 cm × ca. 1.5 mm, stomatal lines present on all surfaces, resin canals 2, median, base with persistent sheath 1-2 cm. Seed cones pedunculate (peduncle ca. 1 cm), green, turning red-brown at maturity, conical or ovoid-cylindric, 5-10 cm. Seed scales oblong, ca. 3 × 1.2-1.5 cm; apophyses subrhombic or pentagonal-rhombic, slightly swollen, shiny, slightly recurved toward apex, flat toward base, obviously radially ridged; umbo usually slightly sunken. Seeds gray-brown, slightly appressed, ellipsoid-ovoid, 5-8 × ca. 4 mm; wing 1.7-2 cm. Pollination Mar-Apr, seed maturity Oct of 2nd year.