Pistachio
Pinyin: ā Yuè Hún Zǐ
Alias: Hu Bangzi, Wu Mingzi.
Origin and Sources: The fruit of Pistacia vera L., family Lacrimaceae.
Latin plant animal mineral name: Pistacia vera L.
Harvesting and storage: The ripe fruits are harvested from July to August and dried in the sun.
Original form: Pistachio deciduous small trees, 5-7 m tall. branchlets stout, terete, striate and lenticellate, puberulent or subglabrous; young branches often hairy.
Odd-pinnate leaves alternate, usually 3-foliolate, sparsely 5-foliolate; petiole flat above, wingless or narrowly winged; leaflets sessile or sessile, leaves ovate or broadly elliptic, 4-10 cm long, 2.5-6.5 cm wide, terminal leaflet larger, apex obtuse or acute, with a small acumen, base broadly cuneate, rounded or truncate, lateral leaflet bases often asymmetric, entire, leaves glabrous above, leaves sparsely puberulent below glabrous above, sparsely puberulent below, leathery.
Flowers dioecious; panicles 4-10 cm long, rachis and branches pilose, striate, male inflorescences broad, crowded; male perianth 3-5, oblong, unequal in size, stamens 5-6; female perianth 3-5, oblong, membranous, margin with curly eyelashes; ovary sessile, oblong, ca. l mm, style ca. 0.5 mm.
The drupe is ovoid or long ellipsoid, with a petiole about 3 cm long and a larger fruit, about 2 cm long and 1 cm wide, with an acute apex and apiculus, yellow-green to pink at maturity. The fruit is large, about 2 cm long and wide.
Habitat distribution: Ecology: Cultivated in Xinjiang, China.
Resource distribution: Syria, Iraq, Iran, southwestern former Soviet Union and southern Europe.
Characteristics: The fruit is ovate or broadly ovoid, slightly flattened, 1.3-2.2cm long, about lcm wide, brownish yellow to purplish red, apex pointed, base truncate, with stalk remnants, surface with longitudinal rows of slightly twisted rib stripes and intermittent punctate protrusions, pericarp easily dehiscent; drupe 1.2-2cm long, ovoid or ellipsoid, apex pointed, smooth, grayish white, shell hard, about lmm thick. The seed skin is grayish brown or purplish red, the base of the seed navel is rectangular scar-like, the scar is about 3mm long, the interior is green to light green. Smell slightly, taste slightly sweet aroma.
Seed cross-section: testa cells 1 row, tangentially extended rectangular; underneath 1-2 rows of giant cells; decrepit thin-walled cells are often destroyed and blurred, and scattered in threaded ducts, about 10μm in diameter, cotyledon cells polygonal, containing oil droplets and paste powder particles.
Taste: Pungent; warm.
Functions: Warming the kidney; warming the spleen. Mainly used for kidney deficiency and lumbar cold; impotence; spleen deficiency and cold dysentery.
Usage and dosage: For internal use: decoction, 9-15g.
Excerpt: Chinese Materia Medica