Needles are usually four-sided with stomatic lines on all sides. Flowers are monoecious. Fruit is a pendant cone with numerous, persistent scales. They spread from the twig in all directions. Needles are borne at nearly right angles to the stem.
Foliage is blue to green in color and varies by seedling or variety.
Brownish-yellow bud scales curve outward and are often rolled at the apex. Viewed from the end of the stem, the foliage is more semicircular. Leaves are usually glaucous and terminate in rather abrupt, but not sharp, points. Needles have a disagreeable odor when crushed. Scales on terminal winter buds are more pointed and not emarginate at the tip.