At one time terebinths growing on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea (in Syria, Lebanon and Israel) were regarded as a separate species, Pistacia palaestina,[2] but these are now considered to be a synonym of P. terebinthus.

The terebinth is a deciduous flowering plant belonging to the cashew family, Anacardiaceae; a small tree or large shrub, it grows to 10 m (33 ft) tall.

The flowers range from purple to green, the fruit is the size of a pea and turns from red to brown, depending on the degree of maturation.

In the vegetative period they develop "galls" shaped like a goat's horn (from which the plant gets the name "cornicabra", the common name in Spanish), that occur on the leaves and leaflets which have been bitten by insects.

Pistacia terebinthus is more abundant in the mountains and inland and the mastic is usually found more frequently in areas where the Mediterranean influence of the sea moderates the climate.

It requires a sunny exposure and average soils, tolerating lime and some salt, often grows near the sea, deep ravines and near salt-lakes and streams.

Historian of Mycenae John Chadwick believes that the terebinth is the plant called ki-ta-no in some of the Linear B tablets.

He cites the work of a Spanish scholar, J. L. Melena, who had found "an ancient lexicon which showed that kritanos was another name for the turpentine tree, and that the Mycenaean spelling could represent a variant form of this word.

Terebinth is referred to by Robin Lane Fox in Alexander the Great: "When a Persian king took the throne, he attended Pasargadae, site of King Cyrus's tomb, and dressed in a rough leather uniform to eat a ritual meal of figs, sour milk and leaves of terebinth.

It is also found in Genesis chapter 35, where Jacob commands his family to remove idols that were taken as booty from the battle in Shechem before travelling to Bethel.

Terebinths are also found in Isaiah in possible reference to idolatry associated with the trees, although in the Septuagint and Vulgate the word is translated 'idols', as the plural of el.)

Terebinth resin was used as a wine preservative in the entire ancient Near East, as proven by many findings in areas such as the foot of the Zagros Mountains[13] and Middle Bronze Age Galilee.