Growing 20 to 50 feet tall, the limber pine has a tapering trunk with a low, broad, flat-topped crown. Older trees have low, drooping branches with ascending tips. The bluish-green needles are 1.5 to 3.5 inches long, occur in fascicles of 5, and are densely crowded at the ends of the branches, pointing forward. The leaf sheath is deciduous, and 3 to 4 lines of stomata occur on each leaf surface. Cones are yellow-brown, grow at right angles to the branch and are shed in winter.
Buds are ovoid and sharply pointed.
Bark is smooth and light gray when young, becoming grayish-brown and deeply furrowed into almost square, scaly plates. The limber pine is native to the Rocky Mountains from Canada to northern New Mexico, but not abundant anywhere in its range. It grows well in northwestern Iowa and on the ISU Campus. This pine is found on dry, rocky ridges and peaks. It has a large taproot and is remarkably windfirm.