The tree has dark green leaves ("needles") in pairs, 3–7 centimetres (1+1⁄4–2+3⁄4 inches) long.

In Estonia and Lithuania P. mugo only occasionally naturalises outside plantations, sometimes establishing in raised bogs.

[9] Pinus mugo is classed as a wilding conifer, and spreads as an invasive species in the high country of New Zealand,[citation needed] coastal Denmark, and other areas of Scandinavia.

In Kosovo, its trunk is used as construction material for the vernacular architecture in the mountains called "Bosonica".

Buds and young cones are harvested from the wild in the spring and left to dry in the sun over the summer and into autumn.