Anacardium occidentale
Content
Description
Tree up to 12 m high and 40 cm ø, trunk usually crooked.
Bark brown, rather smooth.
Leaves coriaceous, obovate, sometimes broadly elliptic, 4-22½ by 2½-15 cm, glabrous;
Flowers fragrant, unisexual (5) and bisexual ones on the same plant.
Petals linear, 7-15 mm long, reflexed at anthesis, at first pale greenish-cream with red stripes, soon turning red.
Stamens 2-12 mm;
Panicles or sometimes corymbs up to 26 cm long, pubescent, glabrescent;
Ovary c. 1 mm Ø;
Seed reniform, 1½-2 by 1 cm.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical, east coast of Malaya, tropical America present
Tropical America; widely cultivated in the tropics as a fruit tree; in Malesia in some places naturalized, for example on the east coast of Malaya (CORNER).
Uses
All parts of the plant contain an irritant skin poison, but particularly the seed, or kernel of the nut (CORNER l.c.). On heating this substance is destroyed, hence cashew nuts must be roasted before being eaten; the raw nut would sear the lips and cannot be swallowed. The fleshy pear-like cushion on which the nut is so characteristically placed, can be eaten raw: it has a delightful fragrance, but in Malayan varieties the taste is poor and the juice sets up a slight irritation in the throat, obliging one to cough. Much better varieties occur in tropical America, where the pulpy part of the cashew apple is extensively eaten.
Various parts of the tree are used in native medicine, etc.; for more detailed information on uses, cf. HEYNE, BURKILL, and PURSEGLOVE, ll. cc.
Various parts of the tree are used in native medicine, etc.; for more detailed information on uses, cf. HEYNE, BURKILL, and PURSEGLOVE, ll. cc.
Notes
COPELAND Jr (l.c.) studied the reproductive structure. According to him the summit of the obconical pedicel (the receptacle) bears the floral parts, there is no disk in the flower, and all anthers are fertile. After the study of the vascular system he suggested that the pistil is tricarpellate, but it is so reduced as to have the outward appearance of a single carpel.
Citation
DE WIT 1959 – In: Rumph.: 346
WALKER 1976: Fl. Okin. & S. Ryu Kyu Is.: 663
King 1896 – In: J. As. Soc. Beng.: 479
Engl. 1883 – In: DC., Mon. Phan. 4: 219
H. F. COPELAND 1962: p. 315. – In: Phytomorph.: f. 1-25
Merr. 1923 – In: En. Philip.: 469
CRAIB 1926 – In: Fl. Siam. En.: 345
Engl. 1892: p. 147. – In: E. & P., Nat. Pfl. Fam. 3: f. 94
Ridl. 1911 – In: J. Str. Br. R. As. Soc.: 89
BACK. 1911: Schoolfl.: 279
DC. 1825 – In: Prod.: 62
LINNE 1918: Sp. Blanc.: 233
Merr. 1903 – In: Bull. Bur. For. Philip.: 33
Corner 1940: Ways. Trees: 100: Atlas t. 2
Hook.f. 1876 – In: Fl. Br. Ind.: 20
Bl. 1826: Bijdr.: 1155
Koord. 1898: Minah.: 409
TARD. 1962: p. 100. – In: Fl. C. L. & V.: t. 2, f. 5-11
LINNE 1906 – In: Philip. J. Sc.: Suppl. 84
LINNE 1917: Int. Rumph.: 333
BLANCO 1845: Fl. Filip., ed. 2: 227
Ridl. 1922 – In: Fl. Mai. Pen.: 526
VIDAL 1883: Sinopsis Atlas: 22: t. 36, f. B
Merr. 1912: Fl. Manila: 299
BACK. 1907: Fl. Bat.: 365
BURK. 1935: Dict.: 143
BLANCO 1878: p. 60. – In: Fl. Filip., ed. 3: t. 116
LINNE 1886: Rev. Pl. Vasc. Filip.: 100
LINNE 1885: Phan. Cuming.: 106
PURSEGLOVE 1968: p. 19. – In: Trop. Crops: f. 1
Miq. 1859 – In: Fl. Ind. Bat.: 624
F.-VILL. 1880: Nov. App.: 54
HEYNE 1927: Nutt. Pl.: 970
HASSK. 1844 – In: Flora: 623
LECOMTE 1908 – In: Fl. Gén. I.-C.: 12