[6][7] Integrating genomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed expanded gene families (e.g., cytochrome P450 and chitinase) and the jasmonic acid (JA) biosynthetic pathway that are likely involved in stress adaptation.

[citation needed] Many plant species are adapted to desert or summer drought typical of Mediterranean climate, so have a high tolerance to saline soil.

They are susceptible to root rot, molds, and fungi, and parasites attack if they receive too much water and the soil has insufficient drainage.

The fruit is a drupe, generally unpalatable to humans, the size of a pea, and red to brown in color, depending on the degree of maturation.

P. terebinthus is more abundant in the mountains and inland in the Iberian Peninsula, and mastic is usually found more frequently in areas where the Mediterranean influence of the sea prevents or moderates frost.

P. terebinthus is also found on the east coast of the Mediterranean, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, filling the same ecological niche of these species.

[citation needed] Best known as the pistachio, P. vera is a small tree native to Iran, grown for its edible seeds.

In the Zagros Mountains of Iran, in one of the earliest examples of winemaking, archaeologists discovered terebinth resin deposits from 5400 to 5000 BC in jars that also contained grape-juice residue.

[11] P. lentiscus, an evergreen shrub or small tree of the Mediterranean region, supplies a resin called mastic.

[12] P. chinensis (Chinese pistache), the most frost-tolerant species in the genus, is grown as an ornamental tree, valued for its bright red autumn leaf colour.