A tree with a narrow conical openwork crown formed by sparsely growing, often arched branches.
Young branches are blackish-gray, bare, and emit a turpentine smell when cut. The bark is dark brown, coarsely plated, thick (up to 10 cm). The buds are up to 18 mm long, elongated-conical, pointed, resinous, the bud scales are reddish-brown, white-fringed at the edges, tightly pressed. Young shoots are relatively powerful, slightly shiny, pinkish-greenish to light brown, glabrous, without a glossy coating (the main difference from Jeffrey pine, whose young shoots always have a bluish-white coating), hard and short. The needles are usually in bunches of 3, sometimes 2 or 5, dark green, very long, 25-30 cm, 1.5 mm wide, dense, slightly drooping, sit tightly on shortened shoots. The needles are flat. rather rigid, on shortened shoots they are collected in a bunch at the ends of branches, in cross section they are almost triangular, along the edge they are gently serrated, twisted, pointed, standing away from the shoot. It blooms in April. Mature cones are terminal, solitary or 3-5 together, large, 7.5-9 cm long, 3.5-5 cm wide, almost sessile. They are erect or slightly bent, mostly symmetrical, light brown, ovoid-oval. The seed scales are about 3 cm long and 1-2 mm thick, the shield has a shiny brownish transverse ridge and several radial notches, the apex of the shield is dark brown, elevated, with a wide base, compressed from the sides and curved into a straight or slightly curved strong and spiny process. The seeds are dark brown, 6-10 mm long and 5-6 mm thick, with a transparent ocher, widened in the middle wing (2.5-3 cm), similar to the seeds of the Crimean pine, but significantly larger in size and darker colored on both sides in a brown color, have clearly visible whitish veins. Ecological property of the species: One of the main forest-forming tree species in North America (western US states (Oregon, southern California)) on the cascade coastal rocky mountains, where it grows in a mixture with other conifers or in pure stands at an altitude of 1400-2600 m. Sun-loving. Low soil and moisture requirements, prefers well-drained sandy or stony-loamy soils. Quite frost-resistant for the Republic of Bashkortostan (-30 °). Lives 300-600 years. Grows quite quickly, at 30 years the height is 10 m. Relatively resistant to urban conditions, more resistant than Scots pine, but less than black pine. Tolerates the city well in large gardens and parks. Three fruit-bearing trees are in the Central Botanical Garden of the Republic of Bashkortostan, they produce viable seeds. Propagation and cultivation: Seed germination is low, so they should be sown in bowls with subsequent picking out on ridges at the end of May during the spring-summer rains. The first year, protection from direct sunlight is necessary (slate sheet or planting in the shade of fruit trees).
Purpose and application: High-value wood is widely used as a building material, is used for sawing, for making furniture and for carpentry.
Landscaping: Since it belongs to long-needled pines, it is very effective with an airy, openwork crown. Large brown cones collected in whorls give the tree a special color. It is good in single and group plantings for the western and southwestern regions of the CIS and throughout the Republic of Belarus. It combines well with ornamental shrubs (forsythia, barberry), looks spectacular against the background of taller dark coniferous dense tree species.
