English name: Lentisc, Mastic tree
Spanish name: Lentisco
Scientific name: Pistacia lentiscus (Linnaeus)
Family: Anacardiaceae

This is an evergreen shrub that can occasionally form into a tree of up to 6m, although it is more commonly a smaller domed plant with many branches that creates dense cover for wildlife. The leaves are pinnate (3 to 9 leaflets in pairs on a common axis) without an end leaflet, aromatic, oval and leathery. The flowers are dense clusters without petals, the male flowers have red anthers, females brownish, borne in the spring on different plants. They are pollinated by wind with the resultant berry-like fruit ripening from pink / red to black during the following autumn and winter providing a timely meal for birds.
In the eastern Mediterranean area, a resin is extracted by making an incision into the bark, the weeping gum is used for its medicinal and flavouring properties.
This is a relative of the Pistachio nut producing tree grown in the eastern Mediterranean areas (Pistacia vera).

Habitat: Mediterranean scrubland, open woodland, rocky slopes, occasionally sand dunes

Distribution: Widespread in Mediterranean region

Key Words
Flower colour: red
Flowering month: February March April May
Size: s / m / l: medium large

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