| General Description | This plant grows in a miniature form with needle- like, sharp leaves. |
| ID Characteristic | This plant grows quite wide often in a low bun shaped mound. |
| Shape | Mounding, but variable and often-broad spreading |
| Cultivation | Tolerant of a wide variety of soil and site conditions, it is both salt and wind tolerant however it does not like wet soils. |
| Pests | Dothistroma needle blight, pine needle scale, Sphaeropsis tip blight of pine. |
| Habitat | Mountain regions of South East Europe and the Alps. |
| Bark/Stem Description | The bark is brownish grey, scaly, split in irregular plates but not scaling off on old trunks. |
| Flower/Leaf Bud Description | The buds are oblong-ovoid, .5-1 cm long, reddish brown scales encrusted with resin, scales closely pressed. |
| Leaf Description | Short fern-like green leaves, with sharply pointed leaves, variable in length, erect, two per cluster. |
| Flower Description | Monoecious. |
| Fruit Description | Cones, sub terminal, sessile or short-stalked, erect, horizontal, 2-3 together. |
| Colour Description | The colour is medium green to dark green, often yellowish green in winter especially on the tips of the needles. |
| Texture Description | Medium. |