Pistacia L.
Genus composed of about 12 species distributed throughout the western Palaearctic and the SW of North America. In North Africa it is represented by 5 species, 4 distributed in the Mediterranean area, although one of them, P. atlantica, reaches the northern Sahara with vestigial populations in the mountains of the central Sahara. The fifth species, P. falcata presents a palaeotropical distribution.
Al-Saghir, M.G. & Porter, D.M., 2012. Taxonomic revision of the Genus Pistacia L. (Anacardiaceae). American Journal of Plant Sciences, 3: 12-32.
Monjauze, A., 1968. Repartition et Ecologie de Pistacia Atlantica Desf. en Algérie. Bulletin de la Société d’Histoire Naturelle de l’Afrique du Nord, 56: 1-130.
Zohary, M., 1952. A Monographic study of the genus Pistacia. Palestine Journal of Botany. Jerusalem Series, 5 (4): 187-228.
Key to species
1 Leaves generally paripinnate, persistent, with winged rachis Pistacia lentiscus
1 Leaves imparipinnate, rarely paripinnate, deciduous, rachis not winged or winged 2
2 Leaves with rachis narrowly winged, arboreal Pistacia atlantica
2 Leaves with rachis not winged, shrubby or arboreal 3
3 Leaves paripinnate or imparipinnate, with narrowly lanceolate leaflets, subfalcate Pistacia falcata
3 Leaves imparipinnate, with wider leaflets, from ovate to oblong-lanceolate, symmetrical 4
4 Leaves ± coriaceous, with (1)2-4(6) pairs of leaflets, not accuminate or slightly acuminate Pistacia terebinthus
4 Leaves no coriaceous, 1-3(4) pairs of leaflets abruptly acuminate Pistacia khinjuk
Updated by: P. Sánchez Gómez & J.F. Jiménez Martínez.