Mastic tree
Pistacia lentiscus
Also known as: Lentisk, Mastic
Native evergreen shrub with a resinous scent. It copes with drought, sun and almost any soil, and hardly ever needs pruning.
- Type
- Shrub
- Where
- Outdoor
- Light
- Sun
- Water
- Little water
- Cold
- Doesn't tolerate hard frost
Where to plant it
In full sun. It adapts to all types of soil, preferably loose ones, and copes well with wind and sea air, but not so well with waterlogging. It works as a hedge or, in time, as a small tree. Give it room: it usually reaches between 1 and 3 metres tall and up to 2 wide.
Watering
It needs very little water and resists drought. Waterlogging suits it worse than a lack of watering.
Pruning
It rarely needs it. As a hedge, trim it only as much as needed to keep its shape.
Feeding
It lives in scrubland and in all kinds of soil, so it needs little. If you do feed it, do so in moderation: too much, especially nitrogen, leads to overly vigorous growth.
In our climate
It’s native and very common in the scrubland and undergrowth of Mediterranean pine and holm oak woods. There are male and female plants, and only the females bear fruit, which turns from green to reddish and then black as it ripens. If you’d like a low-water garden with local plants, we can help you design it.