184 



ANACARDIACEAE. 



PISTACIA. Mastic. 

 (Family Anacardiaceae). 



Tender gummy aromatic shrubs 

 or small trees: evergreen or de- 

 ciduous. Twigs moderate, round- 

 ish: pith small, round, continu- 

 ous. Buds solitary, sessile, ovoid, 

 with several scales, the end-bud 

 lacking. Leaf - scars alternate, 

 crescent-shaped, somewhat raised: 

 bundle-trace 1, compound, or a 

 curved series: stipule-scars lack- 

 ing. When leaves are present 

 they are odd-pinnate. 



Like Mangifera and Schinus, 

 Pistacia is cultivated only in the 

 warmer parts of the country. Be- 

 sides the mastic species, P. vera 

 which yields the pistachio nuts of 

 confectioners is coming into cul- 

 tivation, in selected varieties, in 

 California. 



Another, but very tender, mem- 

 ber of the Anacardiaceae, capable of growth only in the 

 extreme subtropical parts of our country, is the small tree 

 Anacardium occidentale, that yields the now rather familiar 

 cashew nuts, and, in the tropics, the brilliant red or yellow 

 cashew "apples" which are the enlarged flower-stalks or re- 

 ceptacles. This color contrast recalls strikingly that of sweet 

 peppers, tomatoes, holly-berries, etc., in which a normal bril- 

 liant red coloration is replaced by an equally brilliant yellow. 

 Deciduous, very resinifluous. P. Terebinthus. 



Evergreen. (1). p. Lentiscus. 



