Western white pine is a large tree, regularly growing to 30–50 metres (98–164 ft) tall.

The branches are borne in regular whorls,[5] produced at the rate of one a year; this is pronounced in narrow, stand-grown trees, while open specimens may have a more rounded form with wide-reaching limbs.

[5] It benefits from disturbances that clear away competing species, including low fires that do not destroy all of its cone-protected seeds.

[5] The white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) is a fungus that was accidentally introduced from Europe in 1909.

The United States Forest Service estimates that 90% of the Western white pines have been killed by the blister rust west of the Cascades.

Blister rust is less severe in California, and Western white and whitebark pines have survived there in great numbers.