Broad columnar or conical trees to 23 m high, sometimes shrubby. Bark cherry-red, peeling in thin plates. Branches horizontally spreading when young, ascending with age; branchlets terete, in 2-dimensional sprays. Leaves usually c. 2.5 mm, up to 4 mm long on lower stems, glaucous, with pit-like resin gland on abaxial surface; apex acute, sometimes with spreading, hooked mucro. Male cones subglobular, 2–5 mm long. Female cones globular or cylindrical, 20–30 mm long; scales 6–8, each with numerous seeds. Seeds warty or smooth, with a blue waxy coating.