Pine with a highly distinctive, parachute-shaped foliage. Its fruits, pine cones, are large and ovoid and produce edible pine nuts that fall from the tree after ripening for three years. The leaves grow from the brachyblast in pairs and are longer and paler green than those of the white pine. Stone pine forests are not as widespread as white pine forests.

This tree was introduced in ancient times and the Romans helped extend it throughout the Mediterranean.  Consequently, its origins are not known for certain, but it is thought to come from the island of Crete.