The first writer to refer to the pistachio tree in the Greek language, and to describe it, was Theophrastos of Eresos In his work “The natural history of plants” he gives the following description of the pistachio tree: “It is said that a tree grows there (in India) resembling the turpentine tree. This is true of the leaves, the branches and other features apart from the fruit, which is different and similar to almonds. This tree is also said to grow in Bactria. Its nuts are the same size as almonds and look like almonds, but their shell is not rough and in taste they are superior to almonds, which is why in this place they are preferred to almonds.” As far as we know Theophrastos never went to Asia. He took his description of the pistachio tree from one of the historians who followed Alexander the Great on his Asian expedition.