A native of mountaineous tropical America (Brazil), now pantropic, esspecially Shouth Asia; India, Burma, Philipines, Malay Peninsula & Indonesia. Cashew/Cashewnut/Cashewtree lives up to 1200 m above sea level. A tree, height 8-12m. Leaves non-dentate, egg-shaped, with particullary branched veins. Flowers hairy, bunched as plumes, with board fly-leaves. Crown petals from white to red. The brown, ca 3 cm, kidney-shaped and curved fruit, has a large (4-7.5 cm) fleshy pear-or heart-shaped, yellow to red coloured fruit stem.
The grey fruit wall (skin) or pericarp is of medical use. Cashewnuts can also be extracted oils are high quality. Byproducts, namely a nut shell, used to feed poultry. Kind of oil is also produced from the shells of cashew fruit ( CNSL, cashew nut shell liquid ), which is used in the industry and also as an ingredient for preserving wood or mesh. Young leaves of cashewnuts can be eaten as like salad, raw or cooked. Old leaves used as a drug of skin disease, to remedy of the rash on the skin. All parts of the tree can also be used in traditional medicine, especially to heal sore skin; for cleaning the mouth, and for laxatives ( purgativa). The leaves, as poultice mixed with lime, are externally used to treat skin deseases (e.g. pemphigus neonatorum) and burns. The oily juice of the fruit skin is externally applied to persistent skin ulcers and warts, though one should beware of toxic reactions because of this old therapeutic use. The roots are used as laxative and the bark is a gargle (against apthae) and remedy for face pimples.
A special of Anacardium occidentale/Cashewnuts is its use in homoeopathy to treat psychic disorders (lot of memory, overworks, sexual problems). The pounded fruit wall is prepared as tincture or powder. It is assumed to have an inhibiting action on disbalanced brain centres (hallucinations, lost of memory.etc) and on the stomach. Dermatitis might be a side effect of its application. The scientific value is as follows. The bark is tart and is used as astringent. It is contains tannin, which many cause contact dermatitis, as is the case with the juice of the fruit wall, which becomes black when exposed to the air, and which contain a light-yellow coloured oil with a sweety taste, consisting 0f 40-50% cardol (a toxic tannin) and anacardic acid. The oil is a powerful caustic or vesicant. It further yields glycerides, linoleic, palmitic,stearic, and lignoceric acids, plus sitosterin. It has been reported that the wood contains catechin and that the whole tree yields gallic acid. Some recent therapeutic preparation are : a tincture (base on alcohol) of the fruit wall as a verifuge ; the oil of the fruit wall as cardolum vesicans (to raise blisters) ; the water extract being patented as anti-hypertensive agent.
The wood is light brown and low value, very rarely used,although can be used as firewood or timber of low quality tooling. A kind of sap that hardened in the open air ( gum ) is produced from the wounded trunk. This gum as well as prevent termitetermite attack, which is also good for glue of plywood or windows frame.
Latin = Anacardium Occidentale
Indonesian = Jambu Mete/Jambu Mede/ Jambu Monyet
English = Cashewnuts Share :
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