Trees to 12m; trunk to 0. diam., straight to crooked, erect to leaning, poorly self-pruning; crown irregularly rounded or flattened. Bark red-to gray-brown, irregularly checked into scaly plates. Branches horizontally spreading; twigs slender, orange-to yellow-brown, aging darker brown, rough. Buds ovoid to cylindric, red-brown, 0.6--0.9cm, resinous. Leaves 2(--3) per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting 3 years, 3--6(--8)cm ´ 1--1.5mm, twisted, deep yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins harshly serrulate, apex acute to short-acuminate; sheath 0.5--1cm, base persistent. Pollen cones ellipsoid, ca. 15mm, yellow. Seed cones maturing in 2 years, variably serotinous, mostly whorled, downcurved, asymmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid when open, (4--)6--10cm, gray-to pale red-brown, nearly sessile or on stalks to 1cm; apophyses thickened, diamond-shaped, strongly keeled, elongate, mammillate at cone base abaxially; umbo central, a stout, curved, sharp claw. Seeds deltoid-obovoid, oblique; body ca. 6mm, deep purple-brown to black; wing 10--20(--30)mm. 2 n =24.
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Small, often crooked tree to 10(20) m, with widely spreading branches; lvs in 2’s or rarely some of them in 3’s, dark bluish-green, stiff, sharp, usually twisted, mostly 4–9 cm × 1.5–2 mm; cones spreading or deflexed, conic-ovoid, mostly 6–9 cm long-persistent, often remaining closed for several years or until fire; apophysis thick, strongly elevated at the center, the umbo pyramidally projecting, with a very stout, spreading or upwardly curved spine 3–8 mm; seeds ca 2 cm; male cones reddish-purple. Dry or rocky soil, chiefly in the mts.; Pa. and adj. N.J. to n. Ga. Readily recognizable by its strongly armed cones.
Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.
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