Tree to 30 m tall, usually with conical crown, up to 1,000 years old. The bark is gray, scaly-plated in old age. Shoots glabrous, bright with 2-4 cm long branchlets. Buds conical, alternating. Fan-shaped leaves, with a pattern of radiating veins, turning golden and falling each winter. Pollen spread by wind, dioecious tree. Natural range: SE China. In the Czech Republic introduced.
Chinese "living fossils".