Anacardium excelsum (Wild Cashew)

Anacardium excelsum is a towering tropical tree recognized for its impressive height, broad crown, and distinctive fruiting structures within the cashew family.

This species develops a massive trunk with spreading branches and produces fleshy pedicels that support hard nut-like seeds, giving it a characteristic appearance in mature landscapes.

What makes Anacardium excelsum distinctive?

Anacardium excelsum grows into a very large canopy tree with straight boles and wide crowns that dominate their surroundings. Its evergreen leaves are broad, leathery, and arranged to capture high light levels in humid lowland forests. The small flowers appear in loose clusters, followed by swollen, pear-shaped pedicels that turn yellow or reddish and hold the hard seed at the tip. The seeds and fruit of this wild cashew species are poisonous when raw, but after roasting the nuts become edible - many people say they taste similar to common cashews.The tree prospers in deep, moist soils of tropical regions, showing rapid growth in hot, rainy seasons and steady vigor in warm, frost-free environments. Its size and structure make it suitable primarily for spacious tropical landscapes, where it serves as a defining shade tree with notable fruit morphology typical of the genus.