Pistacia khinjuk Stocks
P. acuminata Boiss. & Buhse
Eng.: Kolkhoung. Ara.: Botom.
Shrub or small deciduous tree, dioecious, 3-8(10) m in height. Leaves imparipinnate, 7-15 cm long, with (3)5-9 leaflets variable in size, petiolulate 2-10 × 1-4(7) cm, ovate to oblong or oblong-lanceolate, with acuminate or acute apex, glabrous along the midrib (puberulous on type variety). Rachis cylindrical, not winged. Inflorescences with male flowers in lax panicles 5-12 cm, erect, highly branched, pilose. Inflorescences with female flowers erect and wide, branched from the base with whitish pilose bracts. Flowers very small and numerous, unisexual, with sepaloid bracteoles. Male flowers with a single bract, linear-lanceolate, whitish, pilose, as long as or slightly longer than the flower, with 2-4 bracteoles, 4-5 stamens and rudimentary pistil, both crimson. Female flower pedicellate, with 2-3 bracts of different length and 5 bracteoles. Pistil with a very short style and stigmas longer than the ovary and the style put together. Fruit a globose drupe, somewhat compressed, 4-6 mm, apiculate.
Flowering:
March to June.
Fruiting:
August to November.
Habitat:
Throughout its distribution range it grows both in mountains (where it reaches 3,000 m above sea level) as well as in limestone and granite, and sandy desert areas. Towards the eastern part of its distribution area, it forms part of Quercus and Pinus forests. In the most desert areas of Syria it is an important forest species. In Egypt it is found in mountainous areas, along sheltered slopes in rupicolous environments, limestone and granite soils.
Distribution:
Mainly distributed in the Irano-Turanian region, but also present in other nearby biogeographic regions, distributed along mountains (up to 3,000 m above sea level) in NE Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan to Kashmir, the border between India and Nepal. In Egypt, it is found in the mountains of the eastern desert and in the mountains in the S of the Sinai Peninsula. It has also been cited in NE Sudan, but it is likely that these citations correspond to P. falcata.
Observations:
In Egypt 2 varieties have been cited, var. glabra Schweinf. ex Engl., with (3)5-9 leaflets, with glabrous rachis and midrib, and var. microphylla Boiss., also glabrous and with 3-5 very small leaflets (Zohary 1952; Boulos 2000), which would be deviant forms from Asian populations. In a later revision of the genus (Al-Saghir & Porter, 2012), the Egyptian Galala populations are included, as well as other more southern populations (Jebel Elba) not included in the earlier work, within the range of variability of P. falcata.
The interpretation of the identity is controversial, at least for the Galala populations, because of the morphological proximity of both taxa, which can also become deviant, since under water stress sometimes there are xerophytic forms. In any case, the leaflets of P. khinjuk tend to be wider, with a symmetrical leaf blade and leaves always imparipinnate.
Conservation status:
Common and widespread species. In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it is listed as Least Concern (LC) at global level (Rhodes & Maxted, 2016). In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) it is listed as “Vulnerable”.