Pistacia

Pistacia, a genus of trees of the natural order Anacardiaceæ, having dioecious flowers without petals, and a dry drupe with a bony stone. The Pistacia or Pistachio tree (P. vera) is a small tree of about 20 feet high, a native of Persia and Syria, but now cultivated in all parts of the south of Europe and north of Africa, and in many places naturalised. It has pinnate leaves, with about two pair of ovate leaflets, and an odd one, flowers in racemes, fruit ovate, and about the size of an olive. The stone or nut splits into two valves when ripe; the kernel, which is of a bright green colour, is very oleaginous, of a delicate flavour, and in its properties very much resembles the sweet almond. In the south of Europe and in the East Pistachio nuts are much esteemed; but as they very readily become rancid they are little exported to other countries. They are sometimes called Green Almonds. Oil is expressed from them for culinary and other uses. In cultivation one male tree is allowed to five or six fertile ones. The tree produces flowers and even fruit readily enough in the south of England, but the summers are not warm enough to ripen the fruit, and the tree is apt to be destroyed by a severe frost. The Mastic-tree, or Lentisk (P. lentiscus), yields the gum-resin called Mastic (q.v.). It is a native of the countries around the Mediterranean. The Turpentine-tree (P. terebinthus) yields the Turpentine (q.v.) known in commerce as Cyprus Turpentine, Chian Turpentine, or Scio Turpentine, which is of a consistency somewhat like that of honey, a greenish-yellow colour, an agreeable odour, and a mild taste, and in its properties resembles the turpentine of the Coniferae, but is free from acridity. It is obtained by making incisions in the trees, and placing stones for the turpentine to flow upon, from which it is scraped in the morning, before it is liquefied again by the heat of the sun. The tree is about 30 or 35 feet in height, and has pinnate leaves, of about three pair of leaflets and an odd one, the flowers in compound racemes, the fruit nearly globular. The kernel of the fruit is oleaginous and pleasant. The Batoum Tree (P. atlantica), a round-headed tree about 40 feet in height, a native of the north of Africa, produces a fruit much used by the Arabs; and a gum-resin of pleasant aromatic smell and agreeable taste, which exudes from its stem and branches, is chewed to clean the teeth and impart a pleasant smell to the breath. The fragrant oil of the kernels of P. oleosa, a native of Cochin-China, is used there to perfume ointments.