Pistacia lentiscus - Lentisk

Lentisk (Pistacia lentiscus) is an evergreen shrub or small tree native to the Mediterranean region. It is valued for its resin, known as mastic, which is used in food, medicine, and cosmetics. Lentisk is also drought-tolerant and used in landscaping for its hardiness and ability to stabilize soil. It grows up to 4-5 m tall,¹ though the RHS lists 2.5-4 m tall and wide in cultivation.²

Inputs

• Hardiness zone 8³
• Hardiness zone 9³

Outputs

• Bird nesting space
• Human food³

Type

• Pistacia spp. - Pistachio
• Shrub
• Evergreen

Functions

• Fire resistance⁴⁵

Dimension	At maturity
Height (m)	up to 4-5 (2.5-4 in cultivation)
Diameter (m)	2.5-4 in cultivation

Footnotes

1. Pistacia lentiscus | Proyecto FILMED, Universitat de València ↩

2. Pistacia lentiscus | RHS Plant Finder ↩

3. Pistacia lentiscus | Plants for a Future ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Guia de pirojardineria, Diputació de Girona / Bombers de la Generalitat de Catalunya, 2020, rated “molt recomanada” (highly recommended) ↩

5. Liodakis, S. & Kakardakis, T., “Measuring the Particle Flammability of Forest Species from Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI) near Athens by Thermal Analysis,” Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Environment Identities and Mediterranean Area (ISEIMA), 2006, pp. 24-28, found Pistacia lentiscus to be the least flammable of the species tested ↩