XXIV. ANACARDIA CE^E : PISTA CIA. 



185 



racemes, each scale with one flower. Calyx 3 5-cleft. Stamens 5, inserted into 

 a calycine disk, or into the calyx ; with 4-cornered, almost sessile, anthers. 

 Ovary 1 3-celled. Stigmas 3, and thickish. Fruit a dry ovate drupe ; nut 

 bony, and usually 1-celled, with a single seed affixed to the bottom. Coty- 

 ledons thick, fleshy, oily, and bent back upon the radicle. Small trees, 

 natives of the South of Europe and Asia. 



Leaves compound, impari-pinnate, deciduous or evergreen ; dying off of 

 a beautiful reddish purple ; young shoots tinged with purple. 



1 . P. VE^RA L. The true Pistachia Tree. 



Lin. Spec., 1454. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 64. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 65. 

 Pistacia officinarum Hort. Kew. ; Pistachier, Fr. ; Pistazienbaum, Ger. 



Pistacchio, 



Identification. 

 Synonymies. * 



Ital. ; Alfocigo, Spun. 

 Engravings. Blackw. Icon., t. 461. ; N. Du Ham., 4. 1. 17. ; and our fig. 278. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves deciduous, impari-pinnate, of 3 5 leaflets, rarely of 

 1 ; the leaflets ovate, a little tapered at the base, indistinctly mucronate at 

 the tip. (Dec. Prod.) A deciduous tree. Syria. Height 20 ft. Introduced 

 in 1770. Flowers small, brownish green; April and May. Fruit reddish, 

 an inch long, ovate ; ripe in Syria in September, rarely seen in England. 



Varieties. The following are considered by 

 some authors as species : 



P. v. 2 trifolia Lin. Spec. 1454., Bocc. 

 Mus. ii. t. 93., has leaves usually of 

 3 leaflets. 



3f P. v. 3 narbonensis Bocc. Mus. t. ii. 693., 

 P. reticulata Willd. y has pinnate 

 leaves, the leaflets having prominent 

 veins. H. S. 



Cultivated in the South of France, and in 

 Italy, for its fruit; the nut of which is some- 

 times eaten raw, but more frequently in a dried 

 state, like almonds. In British gardens, the tree 

 is not much planted, from its being generally 

 supposed to require a wall ; but, in favourable 

 situations, it will grow as a standard or a bush 

 in any common garden soil, and may be propa- 

 gated either by nuts procured from abroad, or by cuttings. 



2. P. T'EREBI'NTHUS Lin. The Turpentine Pistachia, or Venetian or Chian 

 Turpentine Tree. 



Identification. Lin. Spec., 1455. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 64. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 65. 



Synonymes. T. vulgaris Tourn. Inst. 579. ; P. ,v6ra Mill. Diet. No. 4. ; Pistachier Terebinthe, Fr. ; 



Terpentin Pistacie, Ger. ; Terebinto, Ital. 

 Engravings. Woodv. Med. Bot., 415. t. 153. ; and our fig. 279. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves deciduous, impari-pinnate, of about 7 leaflets, that 

 are ovate-lanceolate, rounded at the base, and at the tip acute and mucro- 

 nate. (Dec. Prod.) A deciduous tree. South of 

 Europe and North of Africa. Height 30 ft. In- 

 troduced in 1656. Flowers dull yellow and crimson ; 

 June and July. Fruit dark blue, hardly bigger than 

 a large pea. 



Variety. 



S P. T. 2 sphfsrocarpa Dec. Fruit larger and 

 rounder than that of the species. 



The general appearance of the tree is that of P. 

 vera, but the leaves are larger, and the fruit only a third 

 of the size ; the leaflets are, also, lanceolate, instead of 

 being subovate. The red hue of the branches, espe- 

 cially when young, is very beautiful ; and the leaves are 279i Pt 



278. Pisticia Tfera. 



