Almond requires a Mediterranean climate for reliable production (frost-free springs, reasonable rainfall in winters and springs, dry and hot summers). Chilling is not a problem for almond in this region. In many aspects pistachio nut is quite similar to almond except for the chilling requirement. It is a drought resistant nut, it needs dry and hot summers for its maturation. Low chill cvs of pistachio nut are needed in the Mediterranean countries because of the warm winters. In most of them there are thousands of wild Pistacia trees or bushes which can be turned into bearing pistachio trees within 2-3 years by topworking. For these reasons, almost all of the Mediterranean basin countries have given big importance to these two nuts that can be grown in poor, rocky, stony, calcareous soils. All these show that almond and pistachio can be considered as special nuts for the Mediterranean basin countries.