Pistacia lentiscus

Mastic tree ( Pistacia lentiscus )

The mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus ), also known as Wild pistachio, as part of the True pistachio to the family of Sumac ( Anacardiaceae ).

Features

This shrub grows as a shrub, rarely as a small tree, reaching heights of growth 1-3 meters, rarely up to 8 meters. The evergreen leaves are pinnate, with the eight to twelve individual leaflets to be 5 inches long. The leaflets are blunt with a fitted top. The leaf stem is broadly winged.

The flowers are dioecious in a short, dense inflorescence in the axils. The male flowers have striking dark red anthers. The female flowers are greenish. The approximately 4 mm sized fruits are initially red, later black.

The flowering period extends from March to June.

Mastic

Habit

Leaves and the onset of flowering

Flowers

Fruits

Dissemination

The plant is in the Mediterranean region and the Canary Islands at home and is a typical representative of the Macchienvegetation dar.

Use

Is used primarily the dried resin of the shrubs, the so-called mastic. Especially the bushes on the island of Chios have under the bark of many resin containers from which runs the resin to a scored line. Leafy branches refer to the flower arranging as an accessory in green bouquets use.

Documents

• Dankwart Seidel: Flowers of the Mediterranean. Fail to determine the 3 -Check. BLV, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-405-16294-7.
• Peter Schoenfelder, Ingrid Schoenfelder: What flowers on the Mediterranean? ( = Cosmos Nature Guide ). 4th edition. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-440-10211-4.