Can reach a height of 30–35 meters with a diameter of 0.4–1.5 m. Exceptional specimens may reach 50 m tall, the largest of the southern pines. Its needles are in bundles of three, sometimes twisted, and measure 12–22 centimeters long, an intermediate length for southern pines, shorter than those of the longleaf pine or slash pine, but longer than those of the shortleaf pine and spruce pine.