A tree in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae, native to northeastern Brazil, now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples
A cashew or a cashew nut is a curved nut that you can eat. Edible seed or nut of Anacardium occidentale, a tropical and subtropical evergreen shrub or tree in the sumac family, native to tropical Central and South America. Important chiefly for its nuts, the tree also produces wood used for shipping crates, boats, and charcoal, and a gum similar to gum arabic. Related to poison ivy and poison sumac, it must be handled with care. The two-shelled nut is shaped like a large, thick bean. A brown oil between the two shells blisters human skin and is used as a lubricant and an insecticide and in the production of plastics. The nut is rich and distinctively flavoured
It is native in tropical America, but is now naturalized in all tropical countries
tropical American evergreen tree bearing kidney-shaped nuts that are edible only when roasted