South China cone, evergreen tree, 10-15 meters high, rarely up to 20 meters, up to 50 centimeters in diameter at breast height, the current year's branches and inflorescence axis is yellow or reddish brown micro-pilose and quite thick fine flaky easy to wipe off the layer of wax scales, three years old branches are absent or a few glabrous. Leaves leathery, hard and brittle, elliptic or oblong, sometimes also oblanceolate, 5-10 cm long, 1.5-3.5 cm wide, sparsely larger, apically short or acuminate, base rounded or broadly cuneate, usually bilaterally symmetric, rarely slightly asymmetric, margins entire, slightly revolute dorsally, midvein conspicuously impressed on the leaf surface, lateral veins 12-16 per side, tertiary veins inconspicuous, sometimes obscure, abaxial surface of the leaf densely covered with powdery reddish brown or brownish yellow easily scraped scales. brownish-yellow scurfy blight, young leaves with sparse long hairs on abaxial and midvein margins; petiole 4-12 mm long. Male spikes usually axillary in single spikes, or panicles, with 10-12 stamens; female inflorescences 5-10 cm long, with 3 or 4 styles, rarely 2. Infructescence 4-8 cm long, rachis 4-6 mm in diameter in cross section; cupule with 1 nut, cupule orbicular, with spines 50-60 mm in diameter, neatly 4-valved, spines 10-20 mm long, puberulent, connate into bundles of spines proximally, completely obscuring the shell wall; nut compressed-conical, ca. 10 mm high, ca. 14 mm in transverse diameter, densely covered with short volva, umbilicus ca. 1/3 or less than half of the nut area. Flowering April-May, fruit ripening in September-October of the following year.