When a grower asks us about Syrian pistachio varieties, there is usually a very practical question behind it: does it make sense to look at what is grown in Aleppo or Hama when deciding what to plant on my farm? 🌳 The short answer is yes, although not for the reason people usually assume.

Syria is one of the cradles of the pistachio, and its local diversity is a genuine natural laboratory. Names that are now familiar across the sector come from there: Ashoury, Red Oleimy, Batoury, Ajami, Bundoky… Understanding how they are alike and how they differ helps us choose better, whether we have five hectares or manage several hundred.

In this article, from Agro Vivero del Mediterráneo, we share what we know about these varieties based on published trials and studies: what they are like, how they perform, what climate they need and, above all, what lessons we can apply to a pistachio orchard in Mediterranean-climate regions. 📊

Syria, the cradle and natural laboratory of pistachio growing 🌍

Syria shares with south-eastern Anatolia the status of ancestral homeland of the pistachio. Syrian technicians speak of specimens more than 500 years old in Ain-El-Thainah, near Damascus, and Aleppo has historically been the main production area. 🏺

At its peak, the country ranked fourth in the world, behind Iran, the United States and Turkey. Official figures from that period reported around 56,000 hectares, some 10 million trees and about 25 local types. Aleppo and Hama alone accounted for around 79% of the planted area (44% and 35% respectively), followed by Idlib and other provinces.

There is one detail that changes everything: most of these varieties did not come out of a breeding programme. They arose from the seedling selection in the field carried out by growers themselves, generation after generation. 👨‍🌾

That explains three things we will see throughout the article:

• Enormous genetic diversity, with many genotypes within a single variety.
• A hardiness proven under rainfed conditions, with cold winters and very dry summers.
• A confusion of names that is worth understanding before buying any planting material.

Today, moreover, the situation in the country has affected many farms, so documenting and conserving this genetic heritage is more important than ever. 🌱

How Syrian varieties are named: synonyms and confusion 🏷️

If you look for information in different sources, you will find that the same pistachio is spelled in several ways. These are the variants we come across most often:

• Ashoury: Achouri, Ashouri, Achoury.
• Red Oleimy: Ouleimy, Olaimi, Alimi, Alemi.
• Batoury: Batouri, Bataury.
• Bundoky: Boundoky, Boundouky, Bondokii.
• Ajami: Ajamy.
• Red Aleppo: Aleppo, Halebi or Halabi.

And the confusion does not end with spelling. Within each variety, different genotypes coexist: there is a “white” Ashoury, an Ashoury Mawardi, an Ashoury Abu Riha, a white Batoury and a red one, a white Oleimy and a red one… A genetic characterisation study using ISSR markers, carried out in Suwayda on a group of local varieties and genotypes, detected 148 bands and made it possible to group the material into several clusters according to relatedness, with types bearing different names lying very close to each other. 🧬

What does this mean for anyone who wants to plant? That the name of the variety is not enough. We need traceability, certified plants and a verifiable origin. It is one of the reasons we insist so much that planting material must come from a nursery with control from start to finish. In our case, all our pistachio plants are produced at our production centre in Jumilla, Spain.

Ashoury: Syria’s dominant variety 🔴

If we had to choose a single name to talk about Syrian pistachio varieties, it would be Ashoury. Depending on the source consulted, it occupies between 75% and 85% of the country’s planted area, and in areas such as Murak, in Hama, its dominance is even more overwhelming.

What makes it special

• Shell splitting. Most Ashoury genotypes show a percentage of split nuts ranging from good to very high. In a study of twenty-four local types carried out in Hama, the red Ashoury genotype called Asho C reached 95.8% split nuts. 📈
• Few blank nuts. In that same study, the Asho A genotype recorded only 3.84% blank nuts, the lowest figure in the whole trial.
• Weight. The Abu Riha and Asho M142 genotypes stood out for an excellent fresh weight, at 2.36 g and 2.28 g respectively.
• Nut set. In a pollination trial carried out in Aleppo with three local varieties, Ashoury achieved the highest nut set (63.5%), compared with 39.7% for Batoury.

What to watch

It is not all advantages. In the comparative trials in Catalonia, Ashoury showed a lower kernel yield than other varieties, that is, fewer kilograms of edible kernel per kilogram of in-shell pistachios. This matters if the goal is the processing industry, which places particular value on that yield.

It is also worth remembering that, within the variety, behaviour varies greatly between genotypes. That is why, when someone tells us “I want Ashoury”, we ask which Ashoury they mean and where it comes from.

Climate and rootstock

Syrian studies place the best match between the flowering of Ashoury and that of its pollinator when between 900 and 1,200 chilling hours accumulate. In other words, this is a variety suited to inland areas with cold winters, not to coastal areas with mild winters.

As for the rootstock, a trial carried out in Tunisia with Achouri and Mateur observed that Pistacia atlantica appeared to have beneficial effects on Achouri, which is consistent with its hardiness in poor soils and under rainfed conditions. 🌵

Red Oleimy: size, early bearing and a few drawbacks 🌰

Red Oleimy (also written Ouleimy, Olaimi or Alimi) is the great protagonist among large-sized pistachios. Although it occupies around 5% of Syria’s planted area, it appears alongside Ashoury and Batoury among the three local varieties that Damascus University researchers chose to compare their chemical composition and fatty acid profile.

What it does best

• Size. In the Catalonia trials, the nuts of Ouleimy and White Ouleimy ranked among the heaviest and largest, ahead of varieties such as Bianca, Boundouky or Bronte. In addition, the Ouleimy nut is elongated. 📏
• Early bearing. Ouleimy was included among the varieties that come into bearing quickly, together with Aegina, Ajami, Joley, Larnaka, Mateur and Sfax.
• Kernel percentage. In the Hama study, the Alimi genotype was among those with the highest net kernel percentage, at 58.48%, very close to the best figure (58.7%).
• Pollination. In the Aleppo trial, the Pistacia atlantica pollinator proved to be the best for both Ashoury and Olaimi.

What to watch

The same Hama study recorded in Alimi the highest percentage of blank nuts in the whole trial, 19.96%. In a commercial orchard, that figure translates directly into losses of marketable production.

There is also a difference worth making clear: the late flowering of Ouleimy compared with the early flowering of White Ouleimy. In Catalonia, Ouleimy flowered late, while White Ouleimy flowered early. This affects both frost risk and the choice of male pollinator. And, in the case of White Ouleimy, the percentage of split shells was low.

In short, Red Oleimy is very interesting for anyone looking for a large pistachio, but it requires close control of blank nuts and precise pollination planning. ⚠️

Other Syrian varieties and local types worth knowing 🌳

Besides Ashoury and Red Oleimy, there are other varieties that appear again and again in the technical literature. These are the main ones.

Batoury (Batouri). It is the second most important variety in Syria, with between 5% and 15% of the planted area depending on the source. There are white and red types, and also small-sized and large-sized ones. In Catalonia it stood out for its early flowering and early start of bearing. In Hama, the white Batoury genotypes recorded some of the largest nut dimensions (up to 1.78 cm). On the other hand, in the Aleppo trial it showed the lowest nut set (39.7%).

Ajami (Ajamy). It is a minority variety, but with a good track record. European trials single it out for its high kernel yield, its high shell splitting and its large nut size. In Hama, together with Bato A, it showed moderate to slight alternate bearing compared with the rest, with values between 31.69% and 34.44% between the first two seasons. Even so, no variety completely escapes alternate bearing. 🔄

Bundoky (Boundouky). It has a high kernel yield, early flowering and a rounded nut. Its weak point is its long juvenile period: it takes longer to come into bearing.

Red Aleppo (Halebi). It is the Syrian variety with the greatest international reach. In the early 20th century it was introduced into California and used in the early days of the industry. It splits well and yields well, but over time it gave way to Kerman.

Nab el Jamal, Abu Shawka and other types. They occupy small areas and are known by local names. Little information has been published and, above all, there is little guarantee of varietal identity. For that reason, we do not recommend them for commercial orchards.

Comparison table of Syrian pistachio varieties 📋

So that you can see it at a glance, we summarise the most relevant points for each one. Remember that these are data from specific trials and that they vary according to the area, the genotype and the year.

Chilling hours, climate and rootstock: where these varieties fit ❄️

A variety that works in Aleppo will not necessarily work on a mild-winter Mediterranean coast. The factor that weighs most is the accumulation of chilling hours during winter. If they are not reached, budbreak and flowering become disordered and production falls.

Syrian studies place the best phenological match for Ashoury at between 900 and 1,200 chilling hours, and for Batoury at between 1,000 and 1,200. If we compare this with the varieties we work with in our nursery, the picture is as follows:

The message is clear: the most widespread Syrian varieties are similar to Kerman and Kastel in their chilling requirements. In the European variety evaluation project in Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal, Kerman showed better adaptation to cold-winter inland areas than to the mild-winter Mediterranean coast, and several Syrian varieties appeared promising. 🧊

And what role does the rootstock play?

The rootstock determines vigour, resistance and adaptation to the soil. In our nursery we work with three options:

• UCB1 hybrid: very vigorous, resistant to Verticillium and nematodes, with early start of bearing. It is usually chosen for irrigated orchards.
• Pistacia atlantica: very hardy and suited to poor, shallow soils, commonly used in rainfed orchards.
• Pistacia terebinthus: drought-resistant and long-lived, the most widely used in arid areas.

Choosing the right combination of variety and rootstock can make the difference between an orchard that starts off strongly and one that falls short. 🌿

Flowering, start of bearing and ripening: the calendar of Syrian varieties ⏳

Knowing a variety’s calendar is as important as knowing its yield. In Syria, the Hama study observed that peak flowering of the different genotypes ran from late March to mid-April, and that within a single variety there were notable differences between one type and another. 🌼

In Catalonia, pistachio flowering was concentrated in April and lasted on average about twelve days in both sexes. There, Batoury, Mateur, Aegina and White Ouleimy ranked among the early-flowering females, while Kerman, Joley and Ouleimy flowered later. That difference, which seems small, has very concrete consequences:

• Frost risk. Early flowering exposes the blossom to spring frosts. Late flowering protects it, but it may not coincide with the pollen.
• Choice of pollinator. Each female needs a male whose pollen is available at exactly the right moment.
• Harvest date. Late-flowering varieties tend to ripen later, which affects how the harvest campaign and drying are organised.

And there is another point we should not forget: patience. In the Catalan trials, the juvenile period of the females was between three and eight years after field grafting, with Batoury, Kerman and Sfax as early-bearing varieties and others, such as Bundoky, considerably slower. In Greece, the Aegina variety began to produce six to seven years after grafting and reached full production around year thirteen. ⏱️

This reminds us that a pistachio orchard is a long-term investment and that the choice of variety determines when we will begin to recover what we have invested.

Pollination: the critical point for Syrian varieties 🌸

The pistachio is a dioecious species: there are female trees, which bear the pistachio nuts, and male trees, which supply the pollen. If the flowering of the two does not coincide, the harvest suffers, however good the variety may be.

In the Syrian trials, local males of various origins have been evaluated, including those of Pistacia atlantica. The Aleppo and Suwayda studies agree that some hermaphrodite Pistacia atlantica genotypes improved nut diameter, nut set and the percentage of split shells compared with other pollinators.

Here a practical limitation appears: in Spain we do not work with those wild Syrian pollinators. What we do is look for males with compatible flowering. The ones we use most often in our orchards are:

• Peter: Californian pollinator with high vigour and a long cycle of two to three weeks, compatible with Kerman and Kastel.
• C-Especial: originally from Greece, with moderate chilling requirements, ideal for Larnaka or Sirora.
• Egino, Chaparrillo and Guerrero: late-flowering, useful for extending the pollination period.

As a general guideline, an orchard needs a proportion of males of around 10%, evenly distributed and matched to the flowering calendar of the females. On a farm with two female varieties with different flowering times, the most sensible approach is to combine two males that cover the whole period. 📅

Product quality: size, splitting, colour and fatty acid profile 🥜

When choosing a variety, what matters is not only how much we produce, but what we sell and to whom. The quality of the pistachio depends on several factors:

• Size and shape: they determine whether the pistachio is destined for snacking or for industry.
• Shell splitting: a high percentage makes it easier to sell in-shell.
• Kernel yield: key for the processing industry.
• Percentage of blank nuts: every blank nut is production that is not paid for.
• Kernel colour and flavour: highly valued in pastry and ice cream making.

The fatty acid profile also changes depending on the variety and the area. The Damascus University study that compared Ashoury, Red Oleimy and white Batoury recorded oleic acid ranges of between 68.39% and 76.7%, and linoleic acid ranges of between 11.52% and 20.35%. The authors noted that there were significant differences depending on the production area and the variety. In other words, climate and soil also leave their mark on the pistachio. 🔬

Does it make sense to plant Syrian varieties outside Syria? 🌐

It is the question we are asked most often, and we answer it with complete frankness: in most cases, it is not the most advisable option. These are our reasons:

1. Availability of plants. Plant material from third countries is subject to strict phytosanitary controls, for example in the European Union. It is not something a grower can improvise.
2. Lack of local data. Trials with Syrian varieties in Europe are limited and small in scale. Planting a variety with no performance data for your area is an unnecessary risk.
3. Varietal identity. As we have seen, the name does not guarantee the genotype.
4. Market. Industry and consumers demand a specific product, and Kerman remains the most in-demand variety on the market. 🛒

That does not mean Syrian varieties are of no value. They are a first-rate genetic reference and they teach us what we look for in a pistachio: hardiness, good shell splitting, high kernel yield and well-synchronised flowering.

Three practical examples

Let us imagine three grower profiles, to see how we apply these lessons:

• Small grower with 6 hectares inland, with limited irrigation. A cold climate with more than 1,000 chilling hours invites consideration of Kerman or Kastel. If water is scarce, we study with the grower a hardy rootstock such as Pistacia atlantica or terebinthus and a rainfed variety.
• Grower with 40 hectares under rainfed conditions, with moderate winters. Sirora, Avdat or Larnaka tend to be safer options because of their lower chilling requirements, with C-Especial as the pollinator.
• Large estate near the coast, with mild winters. Here chilling requirements dominate: Aegina, Mateur or Larnaka are a better fit than any inland Syrian variety.

In every case we start from the same data: chilling hours, frost risk, soil quality, water availability and the intended use of the production. If you would like to see how this translates into numbers, you can consult our profitability study of the orchard. 💰

Checklist for assessing a variety before planting ✔️

When a grower comes to our nursery with a variety in mind, whether Syrian or of any other origin, we go through these eight points together:

1. Chilling hours at the site. We measure them with real data from nearby weather stations, not with regional averages.
2. Late frost risk. It must be compatible with the variety’s flowering date.
3. Available water. Although some varieties tolerate rainfed conditions well, all of them improve their productivity with irrigation during the summer.
4. Soil type. It determines the choice of rootstock and the vigour.
5. Intended use of the production. Selling in-shell as a snack is not the same as supplying the processing industry.
6. Compatible pollinator. It must overlap with the female’s flowering and produce plenty of pollen.
7. Origin and traceability of the plants. Without guaranteed varietal identity, everything else loses its value.
8. Expected profitability. It is worth checking that the numbers work out prudently, not on the best years.

If a variety does not pass this review with flying colours, however good its reputation, we do not recommend it. 🎯

Common mistakes when comparing pistachio varieties ⚠️

After advising many growers, we see the same mistakes repeated:

• Comparing data from very different areas. A yield obtained in Hama cannot be transferred as it is to an orchard in another country or region.
• Ignoring chilling hours. It is the most expensive mistake, because it is paid for throughout the life of the orchard.
• Choosing by name. With so many synonyms, you need to ask for information on the origin of the plants.
• Forgetting pollination. An excellent variety with a poorly chosen male yields below expectations.
• Looking only at yield per tree. Kernel percentage, shell splitting and blank nuts also matter.
• Leaving the rootstock until last. It must be decided at the same time as the variety.

Avoiding them does not require large investments: it requires good information before planting. 🧭

Frequently asked questions about Syrian pistachio varieties ❓

What is the most important Syrian variety?
Ashoury, with between 75% and 85% of the planted area depending on the source. It is followed by Batoury and Red Oleimy.

What is the difference between Ashoury and Red Oleimy?
Ashoury stands out for its shell splitting and its extent; Red Oleimy, for its large, elongated nut and its early bearing, although with a higher risk of blank nuts in some genotypes.

How many chilling hours do they need?
Syrian data place Ashoury at between 900 and 1,200 hours and Batoury at between 1,000 and 1,200. These values are similar to those of Kerman and Kastel.

Can Syrian varieties be planted under rainfed conditions?
They have shown hardiness under rainfed conditions in their area of origin, but we recommend varieties with proven local performance data, such as Sirora, Avdat or Larnaka.

Which rootstock is best?
It depends on the soil and the water. Pistacia atlantica worked well with Achouri in Tunisia; in our nursery we also offer UCB1 and Pistacia terebinthus.

Is Kerman better than Ashoury?
It depends on the area and the objective. Kerman is the most in-demand variety on the market and has plenty of performance data in Mediterranean Europe. Ashoury stands out for its shell splitting, but in Catalonia it showed a lower kernel yield. For a commercial orchard, we recommend relying on local data.

How long does an orchard take to come into production?
The Catalonia trials point to a juvenile period of between three and eight years after grafting, depending on the variety. Full production comes later.

Where can I find out which variety is best for my farm?
In our advisory services we study each plot before recommending anything.

How we support you at Agro Vivero del Mediterráneo 🤝

Choosing a variety is only the first step. At Agro Vivero del Mediterráneo we support you before, during and after planting:

• Study of the plot, the climate and the available water.
• Selection of variety, pollinators and rootstock.
• Quality plants produced in Jumilla, adapted and acclimatised.
• Technical advice during the development of the orchard.
• Profitability analysis tailored to your reality.

It does not matter whether you have a small family plot or a large estate: every project deserves a tailored approach. 🌟

To wrap up ✅

Syrian pistachio varieties leave us with a valuable lesson: diversity is a form of wealth, and behind names such as Ashoury, Red Oleimy or Batoury lie centuries of selection under harsh conditions. Ashoury dominates through its shell splitting and its extent; Red Oleimy contributes size and early bearing; Batoury, early flowering; Ajami and Bundoky, good kernel yield.

But we have also seen their limits: varieties with confusing names, scarce local data outside Syria, high chilling requirements and pollination that demands precision. That is why, for a pistachio orchard in Mediterranean-climate regions, we apply what we have learned from Syrian varieties and opt for planting material with proven performance.

If you are thinking of establishing an orchard or expanding the one you already have, contact our team and we will resolve your questions. And if you already know what you need, you can request a quote with no obligation. We will be delighted to help you plant with sound judgement. 🌱