A small to medium sized, very tolerant, poorly formed tree adapted to dry, sterile sites in the northern Lake States, northern Maine, and in much of Canada. It is a pulp species. Needles are 2 per fascicle, about 1" long, divergent, and often twisted. Cones are about 2" long, oblong and asymmetric, and often serotinous and persistent. The umbo is armed with a minute prickle.