Cephalotaxus fortunei is a shrub or small tree growing to as high as 20 m with a diameter at breast height of about 20 cm.

[3] In cultivation they tend to grow on a single stem that is often leaning and bare towards the bottom, but with dense foliage on the upper half.

[4] They have reddish brown bark that appears purplish in places with rough square scales and long shreds peeling off.

They are covered with acute, glossy reddish brown scale-like leaves which remain on the base of the shoot into the following year.

The leaves themselves are glossy on the adaxial surface, i.e. the upper-side, and a deep yellowish-green to dark green in colour.

The leaf base is cuneate, or wedge-shaped, to shortly attenuate, while the apex is cuspidate, or fine pointed.