This evergreen coniferous is native to China, Vietnam and North-eastern Myanmar and is closely related to Calocedrus formosana.
The Chinese Cedar is a medium size tree reaching a height of about 25-30m with a trunk diameter of 70-80cm.
It has a grey-brown bark with longitudinal fissures and exfoliate in long strips on the lower trunk in older trees.
The leaves are scaly with nodes which have two large and two smaller leaves on each node, arranged in opposite decussate pairs creating flat sprays. The upper side is glossy green and the underside is white.
The tree has purple seed cones of 20mm long coated in white wax with four scales, two outer scales with winged seeds and two inner sterile scales. The cones turn brown eight months after pollination.
It thrives in humid climates especially when planted in soil with humus-rich surface layers.