It is invading montane areas of Malawi and Hawaii. Its spread is facilitated by fire in grasslands and logging in natural forests. The tree's spread threatens some endemic. Evergreen tree 20 to 30 m tall. Taxonomy, variation and plasticity Sometimes difficult to distinguish from forms of related species.
Some morphological characters show marked clinal variation in Mexico.
Reproductive biology Flowering may start when the tree is two years old. Female flowers usually appear a year later than male flowers and are respectively borne in the upper and lower parts of the canopy. In Hawaii and Malawi P. patula starts producing many cones after 6 to 8 years. In Africa seed set varies from 45 to 93 seeds per cone out of a potential 200 to 300, whereas a Mexican collection had only 22 seeds per cone. Cones take 22 months to reach maturity and may remain closed several years until they are scorched by fire.