Anacardium occidentale

General Description:

Anacardium occidentale a small, spreading, evergreen tree, sometimes reaching a height of 12m, native to tropical America, and introduced in the warmer parts of India especially near the sea. Leaves obovate or obovate-oblong, hard, glabrous, obtuse-retuse or rounded at tip, cuneate at base, 10-20cm long; flowers small, yellow, with pink stripes, borne in 15-25cm long, terminal panicles, with both staminate and hermaphrodite flowers; fruit, a kidney-shaped nut, 2.5cm long, borne on a 5.0-7.5cm long, pyriform, fleshy receptacle, the cashew apple, having a thin bright yellow to scarlet skin and soft and juicy flesh. The nut is greyish green with a hard, smooth and shining oleaginous pericarp enclosing a curved white kernel covered with a thin reddish brown testa.