Monographs Details:
Authority:
Britton, Nathaniel L. Flora Borinqueña.
Britton, Nathaniel L. Flora Borinqueña.
Family:
Anacardiaceae
Anacardiaceae
Description:
Species Description - Valuable for its products, especially its seeds, this small tree grows nearly throughout the West Indies, and has a wide range in tropical continental America; it is often planted, and has long been introduced into the tropics of the Old World. The seeds (nuts) form an important commercial industry, and are gathered in large quantities in some countries, and exported, after the roasting and shelling necessary, for the fresh shell contains a poisonous substance, which is eliminated by heat; care has to be taken in the roasting process, because the fumes may blister the skin, or inflame the eyes; these roasted Cashew-nuts are delicious, resembling almonds in taste. The trunk of the tree yields a commercial gum, used as mucilage and in varnishing; the bark may be used in tanning; the astringent sap yields a kind of ink; the shells of the nuts yield the medicinal oil cardol. The nuts are borne on a curious, thick stalk. The wood of the tree is hard and strong, but not heavy. Cajuil is another name for the tree. Anacardium (Greek, referring to the fruit) is a Linnaean genus, of a few species of trees or shrubs, natives of tropical America. They have alternate, broad, stalked, simple leaves, and small, regular, more or less imperfect flowers in large, stalked clusters at the ends of branches. The calyx is 5-parted, the lobes overlapping; there are 5, narrow petals; there are from 8 to 10 stamens, all pollen-bearing, or some sterile; the receptacle of the flower is stalk-like, and greatly enlarges in fruit; the ovary is obovate or obocordate, the slender style excentric, the stigma small. The nut-like fruit is borne on a thick, pear-shaped stalk; it is leathery in texture and contains a single seed. Anacardium occidentale (western), may become about 13 m. high, but is usually lower, with widely spreading branches, its leaves and twigs smooth. The leaves are elliptic, or broadest above the middle, firm in texture, rounded, or notched, from 6 to 13 centimeters long, their primary veins spreading, their stalks about 15 millimeters long, or shorter. The clusters of flowers are longer than the leaves, and very finely hairy, the numerous flowers subtended by small bracts; the calyx-lobes are about 4 millimeters long. The purple petals about 8 millimeters long. The kidney-shaped fruit is 2 or 2.5 centimeters long, its obconic stalk somewhat shorter, at length yellow, much swollen, and from 4 to 6 centimeters long. This is the only species of the genus existing in Porto Rico.
Species Description - Valuable for its products, especially its seeds, this small tree grows nearly throughout the West Indies, and has a wide range in tropical continental America; it is often planted, and has long been introduced into the tropics of the Old World. The seeds (nuts) form an important commercial industry, and are gathered in large quantities in some countries, and exported, after the roasting and shelling necessary, for the fresh shell contains a poisonous substance, which is eliminated by heat; care has to be taken in the roasting process, because the fumes may blister the skin, or inflame the eyes; these roasted Cashew-nuts are delicious, resembling almonds in taste. The trunk of the tree yields a commercial gum, used as mucilage and in varnishing; the bark may be used in tanning; the astringent sap yields a kind of ink; the shells of the nuts yield the medicinal oil cardol. The nuts are borne on a curious, thick stalk. The wood of the tree is hard and strong, but not heavy. Cajuil is another name for the tree. Anacardium (Greek, referring to the fruit) is a Linnaean genus, of a few species of trees or shrubs, natives of tropical America. They have alternate, broad, stalked, simple leaves, and small, regular, more or less imperfect flowers in large, stalked clusters at the ends of branches. The calyx is 5-parted, the lobes overlapping; there are 5, narrow petals; there are from 8 to 10 stamens, all pollen-bearing, or some sterile; the receptacle of the flower is stalk-like, and greatly enlarges in fruit; the ovary is obovate or obocordate, the slender style excentric, the stigma small. The nut-like fruit is borne on a thick, pear-shaped stalk; it is leathery in texture and contains a single seed. Anacardium occidentale (western), may become about 13 m. high, but is usually lower, with widely spreading branches, its leaves and twigs smooth. The leaves are elliptic, or broadest above the middle, firm in texture, rounded, or notched, from 6 to 13 centimeters long, their primary veins spreading, their stalks about 15 millimeters long, or shorter. The clusters of flowers are longer than the leaves, and very finely hairy, the numerous flowers subtended by small bracts; the calyx-lobes are about 4 millimeters long. The purple petals about 8 millimeters long. The kidney-shaped fruit is 2 or 2.5 centimeters long, its obconic stalk somewhat shorter, at length yellow, much swollen, and from 4 to 6 centimeters long. This is the only species of the genus existing in Porto Rico.
Discussion:
Marañon Cashew-nut Sumac family Anacardium occidentale Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 383. 1753.
Marañon Cashew-nut Sumac family Anacardium occidentale Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 383. 1753.
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