Pistacia lentiscus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Mastic (disambiguation).

Pistacia lentiscus
Mastic foliage and fruit

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Anacardiaceae
Genus: Pistacia
Species:
P. lentiscus
Binomial name
Pistacia lentiscus
Distribution

Pistacia lentiscus (also lentisk or mastic) is a

dioecious evergreen shrub or small tree of the genus Pistacia native to the Mediterranean Basin. It grows up to 4 m (13 ft) tall and is cultivated for its aromatic resin, mainly on the Greek island of Chios and around the Turkish town of Çeşme.[2][3]

Description

Mastic leaves

The plant is evergreen, from 1 to 5 m (3 ft 3 in to 16 ft 5 in) high, with a strong smell of

buckthorn and 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 7 m (23 ft). However, logging, grazing, and fires often prevent its development.

The leaves are alternate, leathery, and compound paripinnate (no terminal leaflet) with five or six pairs[4] of deep-green leaflets. It presents very small flowers, the male with five stamens, the female with a 3-part style. The fruit is a drupe, first red and then black when ripe, about 4 mm (0.16 in) 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 P. atlantica.

Distribution

Pistacia lentiscus is native throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and the

Iberian peninsula in the west through southern France and Turkey to Iraq and Iran in the east. It is also native to the Canary Islands.[5]

Ornamental use

In urban areas near the sea, where "palmitos" or Mediterranean dwarf palms grow, and other exotic plants, it is often used in gardens and resorts, because of its strength and attractive appearance. Unlike other species of Pistacia, it retains its leaves throughout the year. It has been introduced as an ornamental shrub in Mexico, where it has naturalized and is often seen primarily in suburban and semiarid areas where the summer rainfall climate, contrary to the Mediterranean, does not affect it.[citation needed]

Resin

Main article: Mastic (plant resin)

The aromatic, ivory-coloured resin, also known as mastic, is harvested as a spice from the cultivated mastic trees grown in the south of the Greek island of Chios in the Aegean Sea, where it is also known by the name "Chios tears". Originally liquid, it is hardened, when the weather turns cold, into drops or patties of hard, brittle, translucent resin. When chewed, the resin softens and becomes a bright white and opaque gum. The word mastic derives from the Latin word masticare (to chew), in Greek: μαστιχάω verb mastichein ("to gnash the teeth", the English word completely from the Latin

masticate) or massein ("to chew").[6]

Within the European Union,

co-operative of "medieval" villages, collectively known as the 'mastichochoria
' (Μαστιχοχώρια, lit. "mastic villages").

Cultivation history

The resin is collected by bleeding the trees from small cuts made in the bark of the main branches, and allowing the sap to drip onto the specially prepared ground below. The harvesting is done during the summer between June and September. After the mastic is collected, it is washed manually and is set aside to dry, away from the sun, as it will start melting again.[citation needed]

Mastic shrub

Mastic resin is a relatively expensive kind of spice; it has been used principally as a chewing gum for at least 2,400 years.[8] The flavour can be described as a strong, slightly smoky, resiny aroma and can be an acquired taste.

Some scholars

Valley of Baca (Hebrew: עמק הבכא) of Psalm 84—with the mastic plant. The word bakha appears to be derived from the Hebrew word for crying or weeping, and is thought to refer to the "tears" of resin secreted by the mastic plant, along with a sad weeping noise which occurs when the plant is walked on and branches are broken.[citation needed] The Valley of Baca is thought to be a valley near Jerusalem that was covered with low mastic shrubbery, much like some hillsides in northern Israel today.[citation needed] In an additional biblical reference, King David receives divine counsel to place himself opposite the Philistines coming up the Valley of Rephaim
, southwest of Jerusalem, such that the "sound of walking on the tops of the bakha shrubs" (קול צעדה בראשי הבכאים) signals the moment to attack (II Samuel V: 22–24).

Mastic is known to have been popular in Roman times when children chewed it, and in medieval times, it was highly prized for the sultan's harem both as a breath freshener and for cosmetics. It was the sultan's privilege to chew mastic, and it was considered to have healing properties. The spice's use was widened when Chios became part of the Ottoman Empire, and it remains popular in North Africa and the Near East. An unflattering reference to mastic-chewing was made in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (published 1609) when Agamemnon dismisses the views of the cynic and satirist Thersites as graceless productions of "his mastic jaws".[10]

Culinary use

Mastic gum is principally used either as a flavouring or for its gum properties, as in mastic chewing gum.[citation needed]

As a spice, it continues to be used in Greece to flavour spirits and liqueurs (such as Chios's native drink

mastiha), chewing gum, and a number of cakes, pastries, spoon sweets, and desserts. Sometimes, it is even used in making cheese.[11] Mastic resin is a key ingredient in dondurma and Turkish puddings, giving those confections their unusual texture and bright whiteness. In Lebanon and Egypt, the spice is used to flavour many dishes, ranging from soups to meats to desserts, while in Morocco, smoke from the resin is used to flavour water. In Turkey, mastic is used as a flavor of Turkish delight. Recently, a mastic-flavoured fizzy drink has also been launched, called "Mast".[citation needed
]

Mastic resin is a key ingredient in Greek festival breads, for example, the sweet bread tsoureki and the traditional New Year's

myron, the holy oil used for chrismation by the Orthodox Churches.[11]

Mastic continues to be used for its gum and medicinal properties, as well as its culinary uses. Jordanian chewing gum manufacturer, Sharawi Bros., use the mastic of this shrub as a primary ingredient in their mastic-flavoured products and they distribute the gum to many deli stores worldwide. The resin is used as a primary ingredient in the production of cosmetics such as toothpaste, lotions for the hair and skin, and perfumes.[citation needed]

Mastic resin

Medicine

People in the Mediterranean region have used mastic as a medicine for gastrointestinal ailments for several thousand years. First-century Greek physician and botanist

Dioscorides wrote about the medicinal properties of mastic in his classic treatise De Materia Medica (About Medical Substances). Some centuries later, Markellos Empeirikos and Pavlos Eginitis[6]
also noticed the effect of mastic on the digestive system.

Mastic oil has antibacterial and antifungal properties, and as such is widely used in the preparation of ointments for skin disorders and afflictions. It is also used in the manufacture of plasters.[11]

In recent years, university researchers have provided the scientific evidence for the medicinal properties of mastic. A 1985 study by the

peptic ulcers by killing Helicobacter pylori, which causes peptic ulcers, gastritis, and duodenitis. Some in vivo studies have shown that mastic gum has no effect on H. pylori when taken for short periods of time.[12][13] However, a recent and more extensive study showed that mastic gum reduced H. pylori populations after an insoluble and sticky polymer (poly-β-myrcene) constituent of mastic gum was removed, and if taken for a longer period of time.[14]

Miscellanea

Apart from its medicinal properties and cosmetic and culinary uses, mastic gum is also used in the production of high-grade varnish.[15]

The mastic tree has been introduced into Mexico as an ornamental plant, where it is very prized and fully naturalized. The trees are grown mainly in suburban areas in semiarid zones, and remain undamaged, although the summer rainfall is contrary to its original Mediterranean climate.[citation needed]

A related species, P. saportae, has been shown by DNA analysis

Iberian System.[citation needed
]

"Dufte-Zeichen" (Scents-signs), the fourth scene from Sonntag aus Licht by Karlheinz Stockhausen, is centred around seven scents, each one associated with one day of the week. "Mastix" is assigned to Wednesday and comes third.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pistacia lentiscus.

References

  1. ^ Rhodes, L.; Maxted, N. (2016). "Pistacia lentiscus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T202960A47600695. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  2. ^ a b Pistacia lentiscus L. Archived 2007-03-12 at archive.today at Mansfeld's Database Taxonomy Archived 2006-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b "Sakız Ağaçlarına Sevgi Aşılıyoruz Projesi'nde yeni bir dönem başlıyor". 2020-08-03. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
  4. ^ Stephenson, J.; Churchill, J.M. (1831). 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. J. Churchill.
  5. ^ "Pistacia lentiscus". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  6. ^ a b Mastic at e-xios.gr Chios Portal
  7. ^ "EU PDO/PGI registration". Archived from the original on 2006-04-20. Retrieved 2006-01-22.
  8. ^ BBC - Radio 4 - Woman's Hour -Mastic
  9. ^ Da'at Mikra, citing Y. Felix
  10. ^ Troilus and Cressida 1.3.525.
  11. ^ a b c Deborah Rothman Sherman (2005). "The Magic Tree — Marvelous Masticha". Epikouria Magazine. No. 1 Fall/Winter. Archived from the original on 2008-01-18.
  12. PMID 12562704
    .
  13. PMID 12888582
    .
  14. PMID 17116667
    .
  15. ^ "Pistacia | Description, Distribution, & Examples | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  16. PMID 21632348
    .

Further reading

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