Shrubs or trees to 21m; trunk to 0. diam., strongly tapering, erect; crown conic, rounded, dense. Bark red-brown, shallowly and irregularly furrowed, ridges scaly, rounded. Branches persistent to near trunk base; twigs pale red-brown to tan, rarely glaucous, aging gray-brown to gray, glabrous to papillose-puberulent. Buds ovoid to ellipsoid, red-brown, 0.5--1cm, resinous. Leaves (1--)2(--3) per fascicle, upcurved, persisting 4--6 years, 2-- ´ (0.9--)1--1.5mm, connivent, 2-sided (1-leaved fascicles with leaves 2-grooved, 3-leaved fascicles with leaves 3-sided), blue-green, all surfaces marked with pale stomatal bands, particularly the adaxial, margins entire or finely serrulate, apex narrowly acute to subulate; sheath 0.5--0.7cm, scales soon recurved, forming rosette, shed early. Pollen cones ellipsoid, ca. 7mm, yellowish to red-brown. Seed cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, ovoid before opening, depressed-ovoid to nearly globose when open, ca. (3.5--)4(--5)cm, pale yellow-to pale red-brown, resinous, nearly sessile to short-stalked; apophyses thickened, raised, angulate; umbo subcentral, slightly raised or depressed, truncate or umbilicate. Seeds mostly ellipsoid to obovoid; body 10--15mm, brown, wingless. 2 n =24.
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A small tree. It grows 8-15 m high and spreads 6 m wide. The crown is rounded. The leaves are short and stiff and blue-green. They have 1-4 short needles. The cone is small. The seeds are large and nut like and edible.
Dry mountain slopes, mesas, plateaux, and pinyon-juniper woodland; at elevations from 1,500-2,100 metres. Eastern foothills of the outer reaches of the Rockies on arid mesas in pure stands or with junipers.
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It is a temperate plant. It suits hardiness zones 5-9. Trees are very cold hardy. They can tolerate temperatures down to-35°C.
The inner bark is eaten. The seeds are eaten raw or roasted. They are ground and used in bread, cookies, sweets, ice cream, sauces, and stuffing. The roasted seeds are used in coffees. The needles are brewed into tea. The soft centres of the young cones are roasted to form a syrup. The sweet cambium or soft wood layer is cut into strips and cooked like spaghetti.
Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.
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