View source for Cashew

{{SPlantbox
|familia=Anacardiaceae
|genus=Anacardium
|species=occidentale
|common_name=Cashew
|habit=tree
|Temp Metric=°F
|jumpin=If this plant info box on watering; zones; height; etc. is mostly empty you can click on the edit tab and fill in the blanks!
|image=Gui1_cashewfruit2.jpg
|image_width=240
|image_caption=Cashews ready for harvest
}}
The '''Cashew''' (''Anacardium occidentale''; [[syn.]] ''Anacardium curatellifolium'' [[A.St.-Hil.]]) is a [[tree]] in the [[flowering plant]] family [[Anacardiaceae]]. The [[plant]] is native to northeastern [[Brazil]], where it is called by its [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] name ''Caju'' (the fruit) or ''Cajueiro'' (the tree). It is now widely grown in [[tropics|tropical]] [[climate]]s for its cashew &quot;nuts&quot; (see below) and cashew apples.

[[Image:Koeh-010.jpg|left|thumb|180px|'Anacardium occidentale', from Koehler's 'Medicinal-Plants' (1887)]]
[[Image:Anacardium_occidentale_tree.jpg|right|thumb|Tree shape]]
It is a small [[evergreen]] tree growing to 10-12 m tall, with a short, often irregularly-shaped trunk. The [[leaf|leaves]] are spirally arranged, leathery textured, elliptic to obovate, 4-22 cm long and 2-15 cm broad, with a smooth margin. The [[flower]]s are produced in a [[panicle]] or [[corymb]] up to 26 cm long, each flower small, pale green at first then turning reddish, with five slender, acute petals 7-15 mm long.

What appears to be the [[fruit]] of the cashew tree is an oval or pear-shaped [[accessory fruit]] or false fruit that develops from the receptacle  of the cashew flower. Called the '''cashew apple''', better known in Central America as &quot;'''marañón'''&quot;, it ripens into a yellow and/or red structure about 5–11 cm long. 

The true fruit of the cashew tree is a kidney or boxing-glove shaped [[drupe]] that grows at the end of the pseudofruit. Actually, the drupe develops first on the tree, and then the [[Peduncle (botany)|peduncle]] expands into the pseudofruit. Within the true fruit is a single [[seed]], the '''cashew nut'''. Although a [[nut (fruit)|nut]] in the culinary sense, in the [[botany|botanical]] sense the fruit of the cashew is a seed. However, the true fruit is classified as a nut by some botanists. The seed is surrounded by a double shell containing a caustic phenolic resin, [[urushiol]], a potent skin irritant [[toxin]] (also found in the related [[Poison-ivy (plant)|poison-ivy]]). Some people are allergic to cashews, but cashews are a less frequent [[allergen]] than some other nuts.

Other vernacular names include cajueiro, cashu, casho, acajuiba, caju, acajou, acaju, acajaiba, alcayoiba, anacarde, anacardier, anacardo, cacajuil, cajou, gajus, jocote maranon, maranon, merey, noix d’acajou, pomme cajou, pomme, jambu, jambu golok, jambu mete, jambu monyet, jambu terong, kasoy. In the [[Antilles]], specifically Puerto Rico, it is known as pajuil and the pseudofruit is the main used part as raw fruit.

{{Inc|
Anacardium occidentale, Linn. Cashew. A large, spreading tree with milky juice, very impatient of frost, and therefore adaptable only to extreme S. Fla. in the U. S. : Lvs. oval or obovate, rounded, or even emarginate at the top : fls. rosy- tinted, fragrant, in clusters terminating the young branches: nut kidney-shaped or heart- shaped, the size of a large bean, the kernel edible. This nut (about 1 in. long) is borne on a fleshy receptacle (the cashew apple. Fig. 33) which is about 3 in. high when mature, white to yellow and red, and is sweetish-sour and edible. Gn. 11, p. 211.— A vinous liquor is made from the apple. The kernel of the nut yields oil, and is edible when roasted; the shell of the nut is exceedingly acrid, even the fumes from the roasting being highly irritant. The tree yields a gum which is the basis of a varnish, being used to protect books and woodwork from the ravages of white ante and other insects. The tree grows 20-40 ft. high. Sometimes grown under glass in collections of economic plants; prop, then by cuttings of mature wood with Lvs. retained.
}}

==Cultivation==


===Propagation===


===Pests and diseases===


==Varieties==


==Gallery==

<gallery perrow=5>
Image:Cashewapple.jpg|Cashew fruit
Image:Upload.png| photo 1
Image:Upload.png| photo 2
Image:Upload.png| photo 3
</gallery>

==References==
<references/>
*[[Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture]], by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
<!--- xxxxx  *Flora: The Gardener's Bible, by Sean Hogan. Global Book Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0881925381  -->
<!--- xxxxx  *American Horticultural Society: A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, by Christopher Brickell, Judith D. Zuk. 1996. ISBN 0789419432  -->
<!--- xxxxx  *Sunset National Garden Book. Sunset Books, Inc., 1997. ISBN 0376038608  -->

==External links==
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