Pistacia lentiscus is a ramous shrub that reaches the size of a tree up to 7-8 m. Its mature bark is greyish, but on the branches and young specimens is greenish or reddish. Its leaves are leathery, persistent, hairless and composed of 2-7 pairs of leaflets. The leaves are arranged alternately on the branches, although the leaflets appear more or less opposite each other on the corner of the leaf, which has small lateral expansions as if it were slightly winged. In addition, the leaflets have the entire margin, are elliptical or lanceolate, bright, dark by the beam, somewhat lighter by the underside and often finished in a nonpinchosa tip. The flowers are greenish or reddish, and the fruits are globose, of 3.5-5 mm, not very fleshy and reddish first, although then blackened when ripe. It is a Mediterranean plant that forms thickets developed in holm oaks, acebuchares, coscojares and other formations of similar ecology, provided there are no strong frosts and the winters are more or less mild. It is indifferent to the type of soil and grows from sea level to about 1100 m. The mastic inhabits the entire Mediterranean area. In the Iberian Peninsula it is frequent in the eastern and southern half. Mastic is used in catarrhal lung problems, for gout and rheumatism, against diarrhoea, gonorrhoea and leucorrhoea, mastic has been recommended for use in external lotions against bleeding wounds or insect bites and has also been used as an anaesthetic for toothache.