Editing Pistacia lentiscus (section)

== Description ==
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[[File:Pistacia lentiscus 2 RF.jpg|thumb|Mastic leaves]]
The plant is evergreen, from {{convert|1|to|5|m|abbr=on}} high, with a strong smell of [[resin]], growing in dry and rocky areas in North Africa and [[Southern Europe|Mediterranean Europe]]. It resists mild to heavy frosts but prefers milder winters and grows on all types of soils, and can grow well in limestone areas and even in salty or saline environments, making it more abundant near the sea. It is also found in woodlands, [[dehesa]]s (almost deforested pasture areas), [[Kermes oak]] woods, wooded areas dominated by other oaks, garrigues, maquis shrublands, hills, gorges, canyons, and rocky hillsides of the entire Mediterranean area. It is a typical species of Mediterranean mixed communities which include [[Myrtaceae|myrtle]], Kermes oak, [[Chamaerops|Mediterranean dwarf palm]], [[buckthorn]] and [[Smilax aspera|sarsaparilla]], and serves as protection and food for birds and other fauna in this ecosystem. It is a very hardy pioneer species dispersed by birds. When older, it develops some large trunks and numerous thicker and longer branches. In appropriate areas, when allowed to grow freely and age, it often becomes a tree of up to {{convert|7|m|abbr=on}}. However, logging, grazing, and fires often prevent its development.

The leaves are alternate, leathery, and paripinnately compound (i.e., pinnately compound without terminal leaflet) with five or six pairs<ref>{{cite book|author1=Stephenson, J. |author2=Churchill, J.M. |year=1831 |title= Medical botany, or, Illustrations and descriptions of the medicinal plants of the London, Edinburgh, and Dublin pharmacopoeias: comprising a popular and scientific account of all those poisonous vegetables that are indigenous to Great Britain |publisher=J. Churchill|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V4MfAAAAYAAJ&q=pistacia+lentiscus+leaflets}}</ref> of deep-green leaflets. It presents very small flowers, the male with five [[stamen]]s, the female with a 3-part style. The fruit is a [[drupe]], first red and then black when ripe, about {{convert|4|mm|abbr=on}} in diameter. The fruit, although not commonly consumed, is edible and has a tart raisin-like flavour.

''Pistacia lentiscus'' is related to ''[[Pistacia terebinthus]]'', with which it hybridizes frequently in contact zones. ''Pistacia terebinthus'' is more abundant in the mountains and inland and the mastic is usually found more frequently in areas where the Mediterranean influence of the sea moderates the climate. The mastic tree does not reach the size of the ''Pistacia terebinthus'', but the hybrids are very difficult to distinguish. The mastic has winged stalks to its leaflets, i.e., the stalks are flattened and with side fins, whereas these stems in ''Pistacia terebinthus'' are simple. On the west coast of the Mediterranean, [[Canary Islands]] and [[Middle East]], it can be confused with ''[[Pistacia atlantica|P. atlantica]]''.