Anacardiaceae
Pistacia

Pistacia aethiopica Kokwaro

First published in Kew Bull. 34: 755 (1980)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Eritrea to N. Tanzania. It is a tree and grows primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome.

Descriptions

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Type
N2, Mt "Ahl" near "Meid", Hildebrandt 1531 (B holo., destr., BM K iso.).
Morphology General Habit
Tree or shrub, up to at least 8 m tall; bark dark, fissured
Morphology Leaves
Leaves (4–)6–18-foliolate, glabrous; rhachis up to 10 cm long, winged; leaflets opposite to alternate, ovate to obovate or oblong-lanceolate, sessile, obtuse to retuse at the apex, entire, leathery, reddish when young
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Female flowers with ovary c. 0.6 mm in diam. Drupes subglobose, c. 4 mm in diam., apiculate, red. Male flowers with c. 5 stamens; anthers c. 1.5 mm long Flowers reddish or yellowish, in subcapitate sometimes branched 1–5 cm long inflorescences
Distribution
N1–3; Eritrea, S Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, N Tanzania
Ecology
Altitude range 900–2060 m.
Vernacular
Hais, heis, xamar (Somali, the tree); mirkud, murkut (Somali, the gum).
Note
The species is very closely related to P. lentiscus in the Mediterranean region.
[FSOM]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/37880/10078287

Conservation
NT - near threatened
[IUCN]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Anacardiaceae, J. O. Kokwaro (University of Nairobi). Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1986

Morphology General Habit
Glabrous evergreen spreading tree 5–15 m. high or more, rarely a shrub, often multi-stemmed; bole up to 0.6 m. in diameter; bark brown-black; twigs and leaves turpentine-scented when crushed; sometimes with reddish crenate leaf-galls or ‘witches’ broom’ stem-galls up to 30 cm. long.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves up to 10 cm. long, parinnate, with the lower leaflets subopposite to alternate, one of the terminal pair occasionally aborting thus making the leaf appear imparipinnate; rachis narrowly winged; leaflets (2–)3–9 pairs, usually 3–4 paired in the Flora area oblong to oblong-lanceolate or ovate, 1–5 cm. long, 0.5–1.5(–2) cm. broad, sessile, usually entire, apex obtuse to emarginate, base cuneate, coriaceous, conspicuously reddish when young.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescences compact spikes or racemes 1–5 cm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers yellowish or purplish; bracts ovate, ± 2 mm. long; bracteoles ± 5, 0.7–1 mm. long, sometimes ciliate.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
Stamens 4–6.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Drupe obliquely globose, 4–5 mm. in diameter, apiculate, green turning red, with mango-like smell when crushed.
Figures
Fig. 7.
Habitat
Upland dry evergreen forest (often with Juniperus) or associated bushland and wooded grassland; 1500–2500 m.
Distribution
K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 T2 U1
[FTEA]

Uses

Use
P. aethiopica yields a gum that is of some economic importance and that is also exported.
[FSOM]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora of Somalia

    • Flora of Somalia
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0