Wild cashew (Anacardium excelsum), also called espavé, a tall, tropical forest tree of Central and South America closely related to the domesticated cashew, A. occidentale. The wild cashew grows to a height of over 30 metres (100 feet), and its wood possesses many desirable properties that make it a valuable source of timber. Strong and easily worked, the wood is commonly used by locals in the construction of dugout canoes.
The singular, nutlike seeds are each borne on a swollen stalk (hypocarp), somewhat similar to the way an acorn nut is attached to its “cap.” The hypocarp is a favourite food of various bats who, in the process of removing the hypocarp, disperse the seeds. Parrots are fond of the seeds and eat large numbers of them while the fruit is still in the trees. The seedlings not eaten fall to the ground and sprout below the parent tree in dense stands. These stands are attacked by a suite of pathogens that kill most of the seedlings. Thus, seed dispersal away from the largely doomed population found under the tree appears to be extremely important for the successful establishment of seedlings.
Wild cashew trees are characteristic of both secondary and old growth forests. All species of the genus Anacardium belong to the sumac family, Anacardiaceae, which also includes poison ivy and poison sumac.