Terebinth

Terebinth (Pistacia terebinthus) also called turpentine tree is a small deciduous tree or shrub related to the pistachio native to the Mediterranean region. It was used as a source for turpentine, possibly the earliest known source. The turpentine of the terebinth is now called Chian, Scio, or Cyprian turpentine

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Terebinth is mentioned in the Bible, for example in Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 29, where the Hebrew word `el` or `elim` is often translated as oak or terebinth:

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:For you will be ashamed of the terebinths that you have taken pleasure in.

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The compound leaves are opposite odd pinneate with five to eleven glossy oval leaflets with a strong resinous smell. Flowers are reddish-purple in colour and appear between March and April. The fruit consists of small, globular nutlets which are brown when ripe.

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The fruits are used in Cyprus for baking of a speciality village bread. The plant is rich in tannin and resinous substances and was its aromatic and medicinal properties in classical Greece. A mild sweet scented gum can be produced from the bark and galls often found on the plant are used for tanning leather. Recently an anti-inflammatory triterpene has been extracted from these galls http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11988853&dopt=Abstract.

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Pistacia: Pistacia afghanistania...

Tree: :This article is about the biological organisms known as trees. For other meanings of the word see tree (disambiguation)....

Pistachio: The Pistachio (Pistacia vera, Anacardiaceae; sometimes placed in Pistaciaceae) is a small tree up to 10 m tall, native to southwestern Asia (Iran west to the Levant). It has deciduous pinnate leaves 10-20 cm long....