Pistacia

Pistacia is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. It contains 10 to 20 species that are native to Africa and Eurasia from the Canary Islands, all of Africa, and southern Europe, warm and semidesert areas across Asia, and North America from Mexico to warm and semidesert United States, such as Texas or California.

Description

Pistacia plants are shrubs and small trees growing to 5–15 m tall. The leaves are alternate, pinnately compound, and can be either evergreen or deciduous depending on species. All species are dioecious, but monoecious individuals of Pistacia atlantica have been noted. The genus is estimated to be about 80 million years old.

It is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Anacardiaceae. The plants are dioecious, have male and female trees independently; a viable population should have both genders.

Well-known species in the genus Pistacia include P. vera, the pistachio, grown for its edible seeds; P. terebinthus, from which terebinth resin, a turpentine, is produced; P. lentiscus, source of the plant resin mastic; and P. chinensis, the Chinese pistache, cultivated as an ornamental tree. The Pistacia species are vicarious Anacardiaceae with few species outside the Old World, and are mostly more adapted to water shortage and alkaline soil.