Pistacia lentiscus

🌿 Pistacia lentiscus – Mastic Tree / Lentisk
📏 Height: 1–3 m | 🌿 Compound, dark green, aromatic, resinous leaves
🌳 Evergreen shrub typical of the Mediterranean maquis
🌍 Origin
🌍 Mediterranean Basin: 🇮🇹 🇪🇸 🇬🇷 🇲🇦 🇹🇷
📍 Ideal for
🏡 Mediterranean gardens, rustic hedges, reforestation projects
🌬 Excellent for windy, arid, and coastal areas
🌼 Flowering
📅 Spring
🌸 Small, reddish or greenish flowers, inconspicuous
⚥ Dioecious: male and female flowers on separate plants
🫐 Fruiting
📅 Summer – autumn
🔴 Red berries that turn black (inedible), popular with birds 🐦
💧 Tolerance
🌞 Full sun | 🌵 Excellent drought resistance | ❄️ Cold-hardy to –5 / –7 °C
🌊 Very high salt tolerance | 🪴 Thrives in poor, rocky soils
🧰 Care
✂️ Light pruning to maintain shape
🌱 Slow-growing but very long-lived
🧴 Resin produces Chios mastic, used in cooking and medicine 🌿