Mt. Atlas Mastic Tree

Description

Pistacia atlantica is a deciduous tree growing up to 7 m (23 ft) tall with branches spreading and growing erect to form a dense crown. The trunk is stout and covered in fissured bark. Old trees may have trunks measuring 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in diameter; it may take 200 years for a tree to reach 1 m (3 ft 3 in) wide.The leaves are pinnate, each with seven to 9 lance-shaped leaflets. The leaves and branches often have galls when the tree is infested with gall-producing species of aphids, including Pemphigus utricularis,Slavum wertheimae, and Forda riccobonii. The tree is dioecious with male and female trees producing different types of flowers. Both types are small and greenish and fall away quickly. Monoecious and hermaphrodite trees have been seen, but are unusual. The oblong, fleshy, oily fruit borne by the female tree is 6 to 8 mm (0.24 to 0.31 in) long and pink in color, ripening to blue. It grows slowly becoming 1000 years old. It has broken bark with ashen gray color. Older branches have the same design, fractured and ash color, which gives the tree a grizzled look. The leaves are oval, almost sessile, shining above, and dark green, with seven to 9 leaflets, imparipinnate with petioles a little winged, flowers in racemes lax, the male and female on different trees. The flowers are unisexual, small, discreet green, thick as pea fruit, then changing to reddish blue. In colder areas the leaves in May check and fall in November. Though dioecious, in some communities males dominate the female specimens in number. It grows in oak woodlands and oak sclerophyllus. The fruits ripen from July to October, starting to bear fruit at the age of eight to 10 years, with abundant fruit after two to three years.