Representatives of the species are trees with a pyramidal crown up to 10 meters high or branching shrubs with a wide crown. The bark is brownish-gray. Young shoots are light green, later darkening, naked.
Grows almost throughout Europe.
Grows in the subalpine and alpine belt, on peat bogs in the foothills, rising to an altitude of 2500 meters.
Botanical description
Representatives of the species are trees with a pyramidal crown up to 10 meters high or branching shrubs with a wide crown. The bark is brownish-gray. Young shoots are light green, later darkening, naked.
Buds are elongated-ovoid, pointed, 6 mm long, brown, resinous. The needles are thick, slightly twisted and often curved, dark green, 3-8 cm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, falling off after 2-5 years.
Cones are single or collected in 2-3 pieces, sessile or on short petioles, 2-7 cm long, 1.5-2 cm in diameter, ripening in the spring of the third year. The seeds are small, dark, 120-180 thousand pieces in 1 kg.
Application
The plant is used to cover slopes, embankments, and create protective plantings.
Wood with a red-brown core, resinous, strong and elastic, used for carpentry and turning products.
The seeds contain up to 30% of thick, quickly drying fatty oil.
The resin is used in cosmetics and medicine, known under the names "Carpathian turpentine" and "Hungarian turpentine".
