A tree 60 ft high in Sikkim, according to Brandis, with spreading branches. Leaves of two types: (1) juvenile, in whorls of threes, 1⁄8 to 1⁄4 in. long, sharply pointed, pointing forwards, concave and very glaucous above, green and keeled below, all very closely set upon the branchlet, with the stalk extending down and attached to it (decurrent); and (2) adult leaves 1⁄16 in. long, scale-like, arranged in opposite pairs overlapping each other and appressed to the branchlet, pointed with the points incurved, grooved outside, bright green. Male and female flowers on separate trees. Fruits egg-shaped, tapered at the top, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long, at first dark brown, blue when ripe, one-seeded.
Native of the Himalaya, up to 15,000 ft elevation; introduced by Sir Joseph Hooker to Kew in 1849, but no longer represented in the collection. It is rare in cultivation, and the trees considered to belong to it are 20 to 35 ft high and up to 2 ft in girth. There are specimens in this range of size at Wakehurst, Leonardslee, and Borde Hill, Sussex; National Pinetum, Bedgebury, Kent; Bodnant, Denbighs; East Bergholt, Suffolk; and Castlewellan, Co. Down.
J. pseudosabina Fisch. & Mey. – This allied species has been confused with J. wallichiana but is shrubby and has the scale-like leaves blunt or rounded at the end; the fruits are like those of J. wallichiana in being one-seeded, but are more globose and smaller. Native of Siberia and parts of central Asia.