{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Automatic taxobox | oldest_fossil = Eocene | image = Anacardium occidentale MS 4693.JPG | image_caption = ''Anacardium occidentale'' fruit | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Anacardium | authority = L. | synonyms = ''Cassuvium'' <small>Lam.</small><br /> ''Rhinocarpus'' <small>Bertero & Balb. ex Kunth</small><ref name="GRIN">{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?588 |title=''Anacardium'' L. |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |date=2009-11-23 |access-date=2010-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506230425/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?588 |archive-date=2009-05-06 }}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text }}
'''''Anacardium''''', the '''cashews''', are a genus of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, native to tropical regions of the Americas. The best known species is ''Anacardium occidentale,'' which is commercially cultivated for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.
==Etymology== The name ''Anacardium'', originally from the Greek, actually refers to the nut, core or heart of the fruit, which is outwardly located (ana means "upwards" and -cardium means "heart").
==Taxonomy== The oldest species of the genus ''Anacardium'' is ''Anacardium germanicum'' from the Eocene aged Messel Pit of Germany, well outside the current range of the genus.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Manchester |first1=Steven R. |last2=Wilde |first2=Volker |last3=Collinson |first3=Margaret E. |date=October 2007 |title=Fossil Cashew Nuts from the Eocene of Europe: Biogeographic Links between Africa and South America |url=http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/520728 |journal=International Journal of Plant Sciences |language=en |volume=168 |issue=8 |pages=1199–1206 |doi=10.1086/520728 |s2cid=84629334 |issn=1058-5893|url-access=subscription }}</ref> They were present in the Americas by the Oligocene-Miocene, as evidenced by the species ''Anacardium gassonii'' from Panama.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rodríguez-Reyes |first1=Oris |last2=Estrada-Ruiz |first2=Emilio |last3=Monje Dussán |first3=Camila |last4=de Andrade Brito |first4=Lilian |last5=Terrazas |first5=Teresa |date=2021-06-02 |editor-last=Vermeij |editor-first=Geerat J. |title=A new Oligocene-Miocene tree from Panama and historical Anacardium migration patterns |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=16 |issue=6 |article-number=e0250721 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0250721 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=8171895 |pmid=34077439|bibcode=2021PLoSO..1650721R |doi-access=free }}</ref>
{{As of|2020|July}}, the PoWO (''Plants of the World Online'') accepts 13 species:<ref>{{citation |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:1739-1 |title=Kew Science Plants of the World Online |access-date=11 July 2020}}</ref> *''Anacardium amapaense'' <small>J.D.Mitch.</small> *''Anacardium amilcarianum'' <small>Machado</small> *''Anacardium brasiliense'' <small>Barb.Rodr.</small> *''Anacardium caracolii'' <small>Mutis ex Alba</small> *''Anacardium corymbosum'' <small>Barb.Rodr.</small> *''Anacardium excelsum'' <small>L.</small> *''Anacardium fruticosum'' <small>J.Mitch. & S.A.Mori</small> *''Anacardium giganteum'' <small>(Bertero & Balb. ex Kunth) Skeels</small> *''Anacardium humile'' <small>Hance ex Engl.</small> *''Anacardium microsepalum'' <small>Loes.</small> *''Anacardium nanum'' <small>A.St.-Hil.</small> *''Anacardium occidentale'' <small>L.</small> *''Anacardium parvifolium'' <small>Ducke</small>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikispecies-inline}}
{{Commons category-inline|Anacardium|''Anacardium''}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q161175}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Anacardium Category:Anacardiaceae genera
{{Anacardiaceae-stub}}