Cashew

Characteristics

It is a small evergreen tree growing to 10-12 m tall, with a short, often irregularly-shaped trunk. The leaves are spirally arranged, leathery textured, elliptic to obovate, 4-22 cm long and 2-15 cm broad, with a smooth margin.

The flowers 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.
	Inflorescence

nut

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 expands into the pseudofruit, which is an yellow and/or red structure about 5–11 cm long.

Within the true fruit is a single seed, the cashew nut. The seed is surrounded by a double shell containing a caustic phenolic resin, urushiol.

Developing fruit

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Cashew
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