They are glossy green on the outer surface, with blue-green stomatal lines on the inner face; their sheaths fall in the first year.

The seeds (pine nuts) are 17–23 millimetres (5⁄8–7⁄8 in) long and 5–7 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in) broad, with a thin shell and a rudimentary wing.

[4] The scientific name commemorates Captain Patrick Gerard, a British army officer of the Bengal Native Infantry.

[1] It inhabits valley floors in the Himalayas, tending to grow among open vegetation on dry, sunny slopes.

[citation needed] Older trees that do not produce enough cones to harvest pine nuts from are felled for firewood.

[1] Chilghoza seeds, or pine nuts, are harvested for consumption in autumn and early winter by knocking the cones off of the trees.

The trees and seed harvesting rights are owned by local mountain clans and villages in some areas, from which they may be exported to markets in the northern Indian plains.

Chilghoza is one of the most important cash crops of Afghanistan,[6][7][8] as well as of Kinnaur and Pangi Valley of Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, India.