The trees have unusually graceful column-like trunks and high crowns.
The bark is grey or brown and nearly smooth in its youth and has frequent, shallow, thin and longitudinal cracks at the later stages. The bark is never rough, even in the old trees.
The sprouts and branches are rounded-tetrahedral, dark-yellowish or brownish, with whitish lentils. The buds are large, dark-brown, nearly black and bare.
It is one of the largest leafy trees of the Russia's Far East. Under the best conditions of growth, it reaches 25-30 and sometimes 35 m in height and has a trunk of 1-2 m in diameter. It grows fast and lives about 350 years.
It grows in the cedar-broad-leaved and broad-leaved forests of river valleys and on plateaus.
It is exceptionally wind-resistant due to its strong root system. It is a soil-protecting shore-line fixing plant.
Its wood is valuable, with fine structure, hard, elastic and heavy.
Distribution in the Russia's Far East. Primorsky and Khabarovsky Krais, Amurskaya Oblast, Sakhalin and Kunashir Islands.
General distribution. China, Korean Peninsula, Japan.
