Also known as mountain pine, the tree, which grows to a height of about ten meters, can withstand extreme site conditions: long, snowy winters, strong winds and very dry, but also very moist soils. With their widely branching, shallow root system, mountain pines also hold their own in stony steep slopes, where they serve as important avalanche protection. Specimens near the tree line often belong to a particular subspecies: As a low-lying shrub-like growing "lodgepole pine" it sometimes grows only one meter high.

Mountain pines are at home in the mountain landscapes of central and southern Europe; they need a lot of light but few nutrients, and their heat requirements are also low. Near the tree line, they form impenetrable bushes with their stunted growth; up to altitudes of 2,700 meters, the mountain pine can withstand the extreme conditions. Below the mountain level, it usually grows where avalanches have gone down, but its frugality also comes into its own in high moors. In Germany, the mountain pine is protected, which is why it is cultivated - for example, in the Allgäu region around Sonthofen.

Mountain pine oil is extracted from the fresh needles, twig tips and branches of the mountain pine by steam distillation; up to 2.5 liters of essential oil are obtained from one ton of plant material. It is colorless to slightly yellowish and has a pleasant spicy-woody odor, which is often used by perfumers for masculine fragrance blends. The oil has an expectorant, circulatory and weak antiseptic effect. Certain ingredients have an anti-inflammatory effect similar to cortisone. In mountainous regions it is traditionally used as a component of Franzbranntwein.