Anacardium occidentale

[Cindy Adair]

We have several little trees only a few feet tall which seem to struggle a bit on our farm. One was bent over almost to the ground last week, but growing new basal shoots. The bent portion had flowers which were white with stripes fading to solid pink/red and a single fruit. I know this is a common tree in the tropics, but it's still exciting for us.

Who grows this one?

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Cashew! God bless you.

We are growing one in the Deerfield Arboretum. It seems to like the SoFla climate, although it struggled a bit when we first planted it. Now it has doubled in size over the last year and is starting to fruit. I love the seeds but have never had a cashew apple and am looking forward to it.

Ours has a weak root system and I don't know if it was just our tree or if this is common.

[fastfeat]

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/cashew_apple.html

[tropicbreeze]

I've got a few of them, both the red and the yellow "apples". They're considered an environmental weed here, flying foxes take off with the apples and jettison the seeds all over the place. There's a few plantations here, but processing the nuts is so labour intensive it's uneconomical. My trees come on just before the mangos. Gives the flying foxes something to eat while they're waiting for the mangos.

[Really full garden]

Be careful, many people are highly allergic to the fresh fruit ,flowers and new leaves. I AM allergic and found out the hard way.I had just harvested a box of fruit and then drove home ,everywhere I touched became contaminated with the toxins. It was far more severe than any poison ivy I had as a child.

[Cindy Adair]

Be careful, many people are highly allergic to the fresh fruit ,flowers and new leaves. I AM allergic and found out the hard way.I had just harvested a box of fruit and then drove home ,everywhere I touched became contaminated with the toxins. It was far more severe than any poison ivy I had as a child.

Wow! I knew to wear gloves to handle the fruit, but I guess I got lucky since I did touch the flowers and probably the fruit. Of course I always need a bit of cortisone cream for various minor itches while there so perhaps the cashew was to blame this time. I'll be much more careful around them in the future!

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Be careful, many people are highly allergic to the fresh fruit ,flowers and new leaves. I AM allergic and found out the hard way.I had just harvested a box of fruit and then drove home ,everywhere I touched became contaminated with the toxins. It was far more severe than any poison ivy I had as a child.

Yes I knew this but had forgotten about it. I am mildly allergic to some Anacards but not all. I will tread carefully.