The plant is native and endemic to a limited area of the Sikhote-Alin mountains in Primorskiy Krai in the Russian Far East.

The cones are among the smallest of any conifer, 2–3 mm long, green ripening brown in about eight months from pollination, and have four scales arranged in two opposite pairs.

The foliage sometimes turns brown in winter, giving the impression that the plant has died; but it revives in spring.

[5] The monotypic taxon Microbiota was discovered in 1923,[6] but political secrecy in the former Soviet Union prevented any knowledge of its existence outside the country for around 50 years.

Microbiota decussata is grown as an ornamental plant for use as evergreen groundcover in gardens and parks.