PlantFiles: Chinese Pistache, Chinese Pistachio
Pistacia chinensis

This tree was planted by the city of San Jose next to the street a few years ago. Unlike GennyQ, we do have blooms and fruit. It's a nice shade tree, but it is messy and it seeds itself freely; we have dozens of seedlings all over the yard.

Chinese Pistache, Chinese Pistachio Pistacia chinensis is naturalized in Texas and other States and is considered an invasive plant in Texas.

There are alot of these trees planted in the town square of a neighboring town. I have not noticed any great fall color this year. My main concern with these trees is that they may become invasive like alot of other asian trees.

First the positive. In warmer regions, I believe that this is the best plant for fall red color - the Ginko gets the yellow prize. It forms a dense shade canopy rather quickly, while still being a long lived tree. The leaves are very attractive and lacy looking. It is one of my very favorite trees to look at. It forms a beautiful crown with little pruning and is hardy enough to use in strip plantings beside roads. People come from other neighborhoods each fall to see a street that is planted with nothing else. It's pretty breathtaking.

The drawbacks are that it forms dense shade, if that's a problem. And the berries at the end of summer have a very pungent smell that I'm not fond of. The dropping berries can make this tree a little messy too - and when you step on them they release their pungent odor big time. Some may not mind this, or may even find it pleasant. I wouldn't plant it in my back yard but would be happy to plant it in an area where I could appreciate it from a little distance.

We have 2 of these trees in our front yard in San Jose, Ca. Since they were established (the first year), I haven't had to water them at all... they seem to have found their own water source. We're subject to long periods of drought, yet these trees have thrived and flourished. We've had absolutely no blooms or fruit (read: no mess) - they're 4-5 years old. Their color display in the Fall is GORGEOUS!

I planted 4 in my landscape in Dallas Tx. Each were 3", balled and burlapped and around 12 ft or so. After planting, I used drip bags to establish. After 2 years they are now around 25 feet apiece and I have experienced no watering problem or excessive fruit. My fall display depended upon how much watering was received as they approach dormancy. I cut in half the watering 4/6 weeks before then (typically late October here) and experienced Flaming Red showings.

A fast growing, beautiful tree that provides shade in a short period of time, the Pistache is a recommended tree for southcentral Texas. My specimen was planted when it was about 6 feet tall. It had to be "topped" in order for lateral branches to emege where I wanted them to do so.

The information on the tag stated that it was nonbearing; however, it produces numerous small clusters of flowers which develop into clusters of very small pistachio nuts. These would be okay except they fall all over my patio area and into my container plantings and have to be constantly removed. New trees develop from these and are easily pulled up when small.

Being among oaks, the tree does not receive enough sunlight to enable it to exhibit the bright red foliage in the fall. Admittedly, the lack of fall coloring may be due to our usually mild temperatures in the fall; last year when we had earlier really cold weather, all of the trees whose foliage is able to turn to beautiful fall colors did so, and my Pistache was a little more colorful. Its bark is nicely mottled. After established it requires little water and maintenance (except for the litter pick up).