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Chinese pistache

Pistacia chinensis

Also called Chinese Pistachio

Chinese pistache
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain

Chinese pistache is a deciduous, drought-tolerant tree grown mainly as a street or garden tree in temperate regions for its autumn foliage and fruit. It is hardy and tolerates poor, rocky soils, and the species is dioecious, so male and female trees are separate.

Family
Anacardiaceae (Cashew family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water young trees regularly until established, then rarely; mature trees are very drought tolerant.
Soil
Tolerates poor, rocky, well-drained soils; not fussy about soil quality.
Temperature
Hardy in temperate climates; cold tolerance varies with provenance, so check local hardiness.
How easy
Easy
Native range
Transcaucasus, Afghanistan to China to Philippines (Luzon)
Climate
temperate

About

Pistacia chinensis, the Chinese pistache (Chinese: 黄連木; pinyin: huángliánmù), is a small to medium-sized tree in the genus Pistacia in the cashew family Anacardiaceae, native to central and western China. This species is planted as a street tree in temperate areas worldwide due to its attractive fruit and autumn foliage.

Where it grows

Its native range is on hill and mountain forests on rocky soils at 100–3,600 m (330–11,810 ft) above sea level. It is found in Mainland China (excluding the far north and the far west) and Taiwan.

Uses

It is a popular choice for street trees in urban settings because it is very drought tolerant and can survive harsh environments. It is also used as an understock for Pistacia vera. In China, the oil from the seeds is used for biodiesel production. The wood is used for production of furniture, and yields a yellow dye.

Other Pistacia plants

Mt. Atlas mastic tree · Chinese Pistache · Mastic tree · Terebinth · Pistachio · Pistache

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pistacia chinensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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