[7][8][9][10] The bark is thick, flaky and orange-red when young to scaly and gray-brown in maturity, sometimes retaining the former on the upper portion.

[5][9][8] The habit of the mature tree is distinctive due to its long, bare and straight trunk topped by a rounded or flat-topped mass of foliage.

On mature trees the leaves ('needles') are a glaucous blue-green, often darker green to dark yellow-green in winter, 2.5–5 centimetres (1–2 inches) long and 1–2 millimetres (1⁄32–3⁄32 in) broad, produced in fascicles of two with a persistent gray 5–10 mm (1⁄4–3⁄8 in) basal sheath.

On vigorous young trees the leaves can be twice as long, and occasionally occur in fascicles of three or four on the tips of strong shoots.

Seedlings up to one year old bear juvenile leaves; these are single (not in pairs), 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4 in) long, flattened, with a serrated margin.

The species is mainly found on poorer, sandy soils, rocky outcrops, peat bogs or close to the forest limit.

[15] Pine expanded into Scotland between 8,000 and 8,500 years ago either from an independent refuge, from Scandinavia (via Doggerland) or from Ireland.

It was replaced by large areas of blanket bog in western Scotland and Ireland though the reasons for its decline and extinction in England are not clear, but it may have been influenced by human activities.

Historical and archaeological records indicate that it also occurred in Wales and England until about 300–400 years ago, becoming extinct there due to over-exploitation and grazing; it has been re-introduced in these countries.

It has been speculated that it may have survived wild long enough for trees used in cultivation in England to derive from native (rather than imported) sources.

[27] Shakespeare (in Richard II) was familiar with the species in the 1590s, as was Evelyn in the early 1660s (Sylva), both around the time when the pine was thought to become extinct in England, but when landowners were also beginning ornamental and forestry planting.

Overcutting for timber demand, fire, overgrazing by sheep and deer, and even deliberate clearance to deter wolves have all been factors in the decline of this once great pine and birch forest.

[9][10] It forms either pure forests or mixes with Norway spruce, common juniper, silver birch, European rowan, Eurasian aspen and other hardwood species.

As the fungal disease progressed, the needles eventually died and turned gray with many dark black spots.

[13] The pine fibres are used to make the textile known as vegetable flannel,[30] which has a hemp-like appearance, but with a tighter, softer texture.

[41] One fossil seed cone of Pinus montana fossilis was sent by the Naturmuseum Senckenberg to the Swedish Museum of Natural History (Swedish: Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet), as a scientific gift specimen, the seed cone is of late Pliocene age (Reuverian).