Monoecious. Male and female reproductive structures are erect cones. Cones are 2.25 to 4 inches long and are brown at maturity.

They prefer full sun to part shade, moist, well-drained soils, preferably loamy and acidic. Mountainsides at 1,370 to 2,200 m (4,490 to 7,220 ft), often in pure forests, or mixed with Algerian fir - Abies numidica, Juniperus oxycedrus, holm oak - Quercus ilex, and Acer opalus. These forests can provide habitat for the endangered Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus), a primate that had a prehistorically much wider distribution in northern Morocco and Algeria.