Conical tree to 20 m tall with slender ultimate branchlets sometimes as little as 0.5 mm thick. Needle leaves mostly absent on mature trees, 5-6 mm long, in pairs, spreading, with 2 pale bands on the upper surface. Scale leaves dark green, in pairs, about 1 mm long, closely pressed to the stem. Cones of both sexes on the same tree. Fruit 8-12 mm broad, spherical, ripening in the second year to a waxy purple-brown. Seeds 3-6 or occasionally as many as 8.

Grows naturally in montane forests.

E Europe.

Thin branchlets; absence of needle leaves on mature trees; fruit and foliage sweet-smelling when crushed (cf. J. chinensis and J. virginiana); seeds 3 or more. The similar and rarely-cultivated J. thurifera generally has fewer than 5 seeds and flattened sprays.

 Geelong Botanic Gardens, Victoria. VIC: Geelong (Eastern Park).

Source: Spencer, R. (1995). Cupressaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 1, Ferns, conifers & their allies. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.