Occurrence (Special Areas) :
Gujarat Forestry Research Foundation, Indroda Park, Van Chetana Kendra
About Anacardium occidentale Plant :
Habit : A small crooked tree.
Leaves : Simple, obovate, rounded at apex, base wedge - shaped, coriaceous.
Inflorescence : Panicles
Flowers : In terminal panicles, bracts ovate. Calyx 5 partite, imbricate, deciduous.Petals linear - lanceolate, deflexed. Stamens about 9, one fertile and longer than others, disk, filling the base of the calyx. Ovary obovoid, tapering into awl - shaped style.
Fruit : Nut, reniform, seated on a large, pyrriform, fleshy thalamus of golden yellow colour, formed of the enlarged disk and the top of the peduncle.
Flowering and Fruiting time : January - March
Significance : Fruits are edible, roasted nuts which are aphrodisiac, and cures loss of appetite.