Benguet Pine or Pinus kesiya is a tall, monoecious evergreen tree that almost always grows in areas described as subtropical or mildly temperate. It grows to heights of 45 m and its bole is branchless for up to 20 m. It grows in succession with Pinus merkusii and Quercus castanopsis. Pinus kesiya is a tall, straight trunked tree that bears conical fruit 23 months after flowering. Its bright green needles are long, erect but soft and are found in arrangements in fascicles of 2-4. The tree has deeply fissured pink to reddish-grey bark. It can help the regeneration of a forest because it can grow quite well after a stand has been decimated by fire.
Along with all pine trees the resin that can be extracted from Pinus kesiya is very valuable and can be used as an antiseptic, diuretic, and vermifuge as well as in the manufacturing of paper. This resin can also be used as a vanilla flavouring. In the Philippines the resin was used to manufacture turpentine in the Spanish Colonial Era. The resin, branches and wood can be used for medicinal purposes. It can be used for kidney and bladder conditions. The stems can be used in a steam bath while the resin can be mixed into a lotion and used as a topical for burns, wounds, and sores. Pinus kesiya can also be very good for the body’s respiratory system because it can be used in treating diseases in the mucous membranes as well as a remedy for a cough or for throat irritations. The wood of this tree is soft and light and can be used in paper production as well as house construction, mining props, torches, veneer, plywood, fuel, charcoal, and pulpwood.