ANACARDIACEAE 299 



1. ANACARDIUM Linnaeus 



Small trees with alternate, petioled, simple, entire leaves. Panicles ter- 

 minal. Flowers small, polygamous. Calyx 5-partite, segments erect, im- 

 bricate. Petals 5, linear-lanceolate, recurved. Disk filling the base of the 

 calyx. Stamens usually 9, all fertile, one larger than the rest, filaments 

 connate and adnate to the disk. Ovary obovoid; style filiform, excentric; 

 stigma minute; ovule 1, ascending. Fruit kidney-Shaped, seated on a large, 

 fleshy, pyriform body formed of the enlarged disk and top of the peduncle; 

 pericarp cellular and full of oil. Seed kidney-shaped. (Greek "resem- 

 bling" and "heart," from the shape of the fruit.) 



A genus of about 8 species, of tropical America, one now cultivated, 

 and often naturalized, in many other tropical countries. 



♦1. A. OCCIDENTALE L. Casoy (Sp.-Fil.) ; Cashew. 



A small tree, the trunk usually small, crooked. Leaves "bbovate, rounded 

 or retuse at the apex, 10 to 20 cm long. Panicles as long as or exceeding 

 the leaves, pubescent. Flowers small, crowded at the tips of the branches, 

 yellow to yellowish-white, the petals usually with pink stripes. Fruit 

 about 2 cm long, kidney-shaped, the pyriform, fleshy, edible receptacle 

 yellowish, 5 to 7 cm long. (Fl. Filip. pj. lie.) 



Cultivated for its edible fruit, fl. Dec.-Feb.; common throughout the 

 Philippines, introduced from tropical America at an early date. Cul- 

 tivated in all tropical countries. 



^. SEMECARPUS Linnaeus .filius 



Shrubs or trees with simple, entire, coriaceous leaves, usually pale 

 beneath. Flowers small, polygamous or dioecious, in terminal panicles. 

 Calyx 5- or 6-parted. Petals 5 or 6, imbricate. Disk broad, annular. 

 Stamens 5 or 6, inserted at the base of the disk, imperfect in the pistil- 

 late flowers. Ovary 1-celled; styles 3; ovules pendulous from a basal 

 funicle. Drupe fleshy, oblong or subglobose, oblique, seated on a fleshy 

 receptacle formed of the thickened disk and calyx-base; pericarp with an 

 acrid resin. (Greek "mark" and "fruit," the juice of some species used to 

 mark clothes.) 



Species about 40, tropical Asia, Malaya, and Australia, about 10 known 

 from the Philippines, one in our area. 



1. S. cuneiformis Blanco (S. perrottetii March.). Ligas (Tag.). 



A shrub or small tree 3 to 8 m high. Leaves somewhat crowded at 

 the apices of the branches, lanceolate-ob(jvate to oblong-obovate, sub- 

 coriaceous, pubescent and whitish beneath, 10 to 25 cm long, the apex 

 rounded, acute, or slightly acuminate. Panicles usually longer than the 

 leaves, diffuse. Flowers whitish, glomerate, 2 to 2.5 mm long. Drupe 

 small, ovoid, somewhat oblique, about 1 cm long, the fleshy receptacle 

 pyriform, purplish, about as long as the drupe, edible. (Fl. Filip. pi. 75.) 



In thickets, not uncommon, fl. Jan.-March; widely distributed in the 

 Philippines at low altitudes, and also reported from Celebes. 



This species, like the poison-oak (Rhus) of the United States is a 

 violent contact-poison to many persons, while others are immune. The 

 rash caused by it is very irritating, is similar to that produced by poison- 

 oak, and is probably caused by similar agencies. 



