CORNICABRA: CHARACTERISTICS, HABITAT, PROPERTIES, CULTIVATION, DISEASES - BIOLOGY - 2025

The cornicabra (Pistacia terebinthus) is a tree-like species belonging to the Anacardiaceae family. It is also known as the turpentine tree, turpentine, cabracoja, caracorna, cabricuerno, caricuerno, flanela, cornita, decornacabra, colernacabra, cornicabra granillo, wild fig tree, jedisco, mastic, tornalobo, Kios turpentine, noguerola or valvarija, among others.

The terebinth develops large branching with very long branches and petioles that turn reddish in color. It is characteristic that after being bitten by an aphid, it develops a structure similar to the horns of a goat (hence its name). Furthermore, it appears that this morphological response of the plant is caused by a physiological mechanism that possibly confers resistance to other diseases and pests.

Cornicabra (Pistacia terebinthus). Source: Consultaplantas

The leaves of this tree are alternate, paripinnate, leathery and of an intense green tone. The flowers are grouped in panicles and vary from purple to green in color. The fruits are red drupes when immature, and brown or black when ripe.

It is a species that is related to the Pistacia lentiscus species, and together with it it produces a hybrid that is very difficult to distinguish in areas of common habitat. It is vigorous in appearance and very resistant that can be found in degraded places even when other species have been eliminated from those places.

Due to these characteristics, especially for being highly resistant to diseases, adverse climatic conditions such as drought, low temperatures, it is a tree used as a pattern for grafting pistachio species.

With respect to its medicinal use, the resin that is extracted from its bark serves as an antiseptic, to treat asthma, as an antispasmodic, as a Vulnerary, to control bleeding and to treat kidney stones, among others.

Also, this plant is used to combat parasites such as scabies, tapeworms and lice; while its topical use relieves arthritis, sciatica and gout.

characteristics

Appearance

It is a dioecious tree about 5 m high. Its trunk is gray, it is highly branched and has very spreading or long branches. In this species, both the branches and the petioles turn reddish in color.

The entire plant produces a bitter and resinous odor. In the vegetative growth period, it produces a kind of horn-shaped galls on the leaves and leaflets.

Leaves

Cornicabra leaves are bright green, leathery in texture, 10 cm or more long and 3 to 9 oblong-shaped leaflets.

The leaves are evergreen, alternate, compound and paripinnate with 3 to 6 leaflets. The underside of the leaves is light green.

flowers

The flowers of this tree vary from purple to green in color. Flowering occurs early in spring and erect panicles are formed, striking for their red color.

Male flowers have five large, reddish stamens and anthers. The filaments of the stamens are short and surrounded by calyx-like bracteoles.

Similarly, the female flowers are surrounded by bracteoles and have a globose ovary with large red stigmas.

The fruits of the cornicabra are very striking for their intense red color. Source: Pistachier_térébinthe_ (Pistacia_terebinthus_L.). Jpg: Gérard JOYONderivative work: MPF

Fruit

They are drupes the size of a pea (6 to 9 mm), at the beginning intense red and when they mature they become brown or blackish. These fruits, like the flowers, are arranged in panicles that can exceed the leaves and are born from the axils of these.

Nutritional content of the fruit

Cornicabra drupes contain 52.3% oleic acid, 21.3% palmitic acid, 19.7% linoleic acid, plus sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese, nickel, cadmium in trace quantities.

Organoleptic characteristics

The fruit of this species has a sweet taste. Serve as a condiment and appetizer almond and pistachio style. In some countries such as Cyprus, bread is prepared from its fruits.

Taxonomy

Its name Pistacia derives from the Greek pistake (nut), while the term terebinthus refers to the Greek terebinthos as the name of this plant, its resin and the substance known as turpentine, which is obtained from its bark.

On the other hand, the term cornicabra is given by the gill in a curved shape like a goat's horn, which this plant presents as a response to the bite and egg-laying of an insect (aphid), which later becomes the appearance of a true goat horn, even black in color.

-Kingdom: Plantae

-Filo: Tracheophyta

-Class: Magnoliopsida

-Order: Sapindales

-Family: Anacardiaceae

-Gender: Pistacia

-Species: Pistacia terebinthus L.

Some synonyms for this species are: Lentiscus terebinthus, Lentiscus vulgaris, Pistacia crassifolia, Pistacia palaestina, Pistacia terebinthus var. angustifolia, Pistacia terebinthus var. oxucarpa, Pistacia terebinthus subsp. palaestina, Pistacia terebinthus var. palaestina, Pistacia terebinthus var. vulgaris.

Habitat and distribution

The habitat of this tree is related to more or less humid areas up to 600 meters above sea level, and sometimes also up to 1500 meters above sea level. It is often found in garrigues (dense, drought-resistant thickets).

Cornicabra requires direct exposure to the sun, soils with medium texture, limestone and saline. It can grow by the sea or at the bottom of ravines, both in lagoons and streams of a saline nature.

Habitat of Pistacia terebinthus. Source: Photo: Christian Ferrer / Wikimedia Commons

The cornicabra is scattered in deciduous forests, cork oak forests, oak forests, and in degraded places it can form considerable groves.

This plant is distributed in Portugal, Spain, Andorra, Gibraltar, Balearic Islands, France, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Algeria, Albania, Bulgaria, Morocco, Taiwan, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria.

Regarding its ecology, it is a pioneer species that enriches the soils and facilitates the colonization of other species. Its fruits serve as food for small mammals and birds which disperse their seeds.

It is an ecological indicator of conserved areas, since a healthy and well-established population of cornicabras indicates little anthropic activity.

Applications

This species serves as a pattern to graft the pistachio tree. The wood is hard and compact, easily machinable and also polished easily. For this reason, it is used in joinery, marquetry and turnery.

The red or brown wood produced by its roots is used to make tobacco boxes and jars.

The turpentine extracted from the bark of this tree is a vegetable oil whose use is as a solvent. As for a forage use, it is not very suitable since it is not palatable for livestock, on the contrary, these animals prefer other plant species. However, the fruit of this tree is used as food for goats and pigs.

The bark can be used to make a sweet smelling paste that is used to make leather and in the pharmaceutical industry to make anti-inflammatories. As a curiosity, in Morocco, cornicabra is used to tan leather and produce the characteristic color and smell of this material.

The seed, the raw or cooked cornicabra are edible. They have a somewhat sweet taste, even sweeter and fatter than the flavor of an almond. An edible oil is obtained from the seed.

The immature fruits and stems are preserved in salt and vinegar, and serve as a condiment or accompaniment to wines. The resin from the log is also used as chewing gum.

Goat horn-shaped gall produced by the aphid Baizongia pistaciae. Source: Luis Fernández García

Health properties

The resin of this tree species has many medicinal properties. This resin works as an antiseptic, antispasmodic, expectorant, Vulnerary and cytostatic. It is used to treat bronchial infections, fight streptococci, relieve kidney infections, control bleeding, gallstones, rheumatism, among others.

Another medicinal use of cornicabra is to combat parasites such as tapeworms, scabies and lice. On the other hand, it is used topically to relieve arthritis, gout, and sciatica.

Also, turpentine is used to treat asthma. To do this, the vapors are inhaled during an asthma attack and it appears to work by stimulating secretion. It is also used to treat chronic bronchitis.

The leaves, bark and the galls themselves have astringent properties, and in medicine they are prepared macerated in wine for 9 days. This macerate also serves to perform mouthwashes and strengthen the gums.

Otherwise, the maceration prepared in wine can also be made with the root instead of the bark or galls and this is used to treat dropsy of the belly known as ascites.

Culture

Sowing

This plant multiplies through seeds and cuttings. Per seed, they should be soaked or hydrated for at least 16 hours in alkaline water, or 3 to 4 days in hot water.

These seeds must remain in cold stratification for two months to accelerate germination. In this sense, the seeds can also be sown in early winter.

Plantation frame

Depending on the characteristics of the soil, the ideal framework for this tree species must be established. For this, it is advisable to use a minimum frame of 7 mx 7 m between each tree. If the soil is under dry conditions (irrigation only by rain) and it is shallow (between 30 and 40 cm), the trees can be separated up to 8 mx 8 m, in order to take advantage of a greater volume and avoid competition between trees.

It should be taken into account that the less distance there is between the trees, the greater the evapotranspiration and irrigation conditions, which can attract more natural enemies of this species. Whereas with wider frames, this problem is better controlled.

In general, it is prudent to avoid associating this species with other plant species in order not to create competition, and with it the greater evapotranspiration that can capture more pests.

Floor

This tree is a fairly rustic species that adapts to poor, rocky, shallow soils with different pH's. It prefers limestone soils, with a light texture with more than 40% clay, as well as good aeration.

Cornicabra can have high nutritional efficiency as it easily absorbs copper, zinc, and boron. In addition, it is resistant to limestone. The greater the depth of the soil and the greater the availability of water, the higher its productive yield can be.

The petioles and branches of the cornicabra turn purple or red. Source: Zeynel Cebeci

Tillage

Tilling the soil in a superficial way creates a better response from the trees, than in the cases of not doing this activity. This is probably due to greater aeration of the soil and better penetration of the roots.

Temperature

It is a species highly resistant to cold down to almost -20 ° C.

Weeding

This species, like other pistachios, are affected by competition with weeds for both nutrients and water. This competition with other plants can cause delays in the development of the tree and in the maturation of the fruits.

Therefore, it is necessary to apply mechanical or chemical weeding. In the case of mechanical weed control, a cleaning of between 1 m and 1.5 m is carried out on the sides of each row of trees.

With regard to chemical control, this is not recommended in countries that produce these fruits because by not using chemical substances, they can offer consumers a completely ecological product, thus increasing its quality.

Diseases

Cornicabra is selected as graft pattern precisely because it is resistant to many phytopathogens such as Alternaria alternata, Armillaria mellea, Aspergillus niger, Botryosphaeria dothidea, Botrytis cinerea, Ceratobasidium spp. Cladosporium herbarum, Colletotrichum acutatu, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Cytospora terebinthi, Eutypa lata, Nematospora angulata, Phytophthora spp., Rhizoctonia solani.

Otherwise, this species also has resistance to nematodes. However, Pistacia terebinthus is susceptible to cornicabra rust caused by the fungus Pileolaria terebinthi Cast. It is a disease that causes brown, brown, reddish or purplish spots on the foliage (upper side and underside), which are surrounded by a yellowish ring.

As the reproductive structures of the fungus mature, these spots become crusty and cause necrosis in the leaves, perforations in the blades and later the fall of these leaves.

Pistacia terebinthus is a disease resistant species and serves as a rootstock for pistachio grafts. Source: Xemenendura

Of course, the cornicabra is susceptible to being bitten by an insect (aphid) which produces the characteristic goat horn-like structures.

It is likely that the bite of the specific aphid of this plant stimulates its defensive responses, making it unappetizing to herbivorous animals. For this reason, these parasitized trees are found more than others in places where there is grazing.

References

1. Catalog of Life: 2019 Annual Checklist. Species details: Pistacia terebinthus L. Taken from: catalogueoflife.org
2. Flora and fauna of the Malpica de Tajo. 2019. The cornicabra or terebinth (Pistacia terebinthus). Taken from: acorral.es
3. Couceiro López, JF, Guerrero, J., Gijón, M., Moriana, A., Pérez, D., Rodríguez, M. 2017. The cultivation of pistachio. 2nd ed. Editions Mundi-Prensa. Spain. Pages 149-150, 541. Taken from: books.google.co.ve
4. AgroEs Agrícola. 2019. Pileolaria terebinthi Cast. Cornicabra rust (Pistacia terebinthus). Taken from: agroes.es
5. Iberian trees. 2013. Pistacia terebinthus. Taken from: arbolesibericos.es
6. Trees and shrubs of Andalusia. 2019. Cornicabra (Pistacia terebinthus). Taken from: juntadeandalucia.es
7. Medicinal plants. 2017. Cornicabra (turkey) uses and medicinal properties. Taken from: Plantasyremedios.com
8. Of medicinal plants. 2019. Meet Pistacia terebinthus. Taken from: deplantasmedicinales.net
9. Innovagri. 2018. Optimization of dry and irrigated pistachio cultivation techniques. Taken from: innovagri.es