Cashew (කජු)

The cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale) is a tropical evergreen tree that produces the cashew seeds and cashew apples. The species is native to Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and northern South America. Portuguese colonists in Brazil began exporting cashew nuts as early as the 1550s. In 2017, Vietnam, India, and Ivory Coast were the major producers.

The cashew seed, often simply called a cashew, is widely consumed. It is eaten on its own, used in recipes, or processed into cashew cheese or cashew butter. The shell of the cashew seed yields derivatives that can be used in many applications including lubricants, waterproofing, paints, and arms production, starting in World War II. The cashew apple is a light reddish to yellow fruit, whose pulp can be processed into a sweet, astringent fruit drink or distilled into liquor.

Flower : The flowers are produced in a panicle or corymb up to 26 cm (10 in) long; each flower is small, pale green at first, then turning reddish, with five slender, acute petals 7–15 mm (0.28–0.59 in) long.

Fruit : The fruit of the cashew tree is an accessory fruit (sometimes called a pseudocarp or false fruit). What appears to be the fruit is an oval or pear-shaped structure, a hypocarpium, that develops from the pedicel and the receptacle of the cashew flowers. Called the cashew apple, better known in Central America as marañón, it ripens into a yellow or red structure about 5–11 cm (2.0–4.3 in) long. It is edible and has a strong “sweet” smell and taste.

The true fruit of the cashew tree is a kidney– or boxing-glove–shaped drupe that grows at the end of the cashew apple. The drupe develops first on the tree, and then the pedicel expands to become the cashew apple. The true fruit contains a single seed, which is often considered a nut in the culinary sense. The seed is surrounded by a double shell.

Ayurvedic usage : Diarrhoea, Syphilitic swellings, Diabetes mellitus, Scurvy, Uterine diseases, Dropsy, Psoriasis, Leprosy, Poisons

Height : 14 m (46 ft) tall

Leaves : The leaves are spirally arranged, leathery textured, elliptic to ovate, 4–22 cm (1.6–8.7 in) long and 2–15 cm (0.79–5.91 in) broad, with smooth margins.

Related medicinal properties : Vermicide, Insecticide, Purgative