The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Semecarpus anacardium
Also called Marking Nut Tree, Phobi Nut Tree, Varnishtree, Oriental Cashew, Bhilawa, Dhobi Nut, Marking Nut
A deciduous tree of India and Myanmar related to the cashew, grown for its edible seed and sweet accessory fruit, but its black nut and resin are seriously irritant and toxic. Handle with care and keep the resin off the skin.
Semecarpus anacardium, commonly known as the marking nut tree, Malacca bean tree, marany nut, oriental cashew, dhobi nut tree and varnish tree, is a native of India, found in the outer Himalayas to the Coromandel Coast. It is closely related to the cashew.
In medieval times, Semecarpus anacardium was thought to aid in memory retention, for which cause the following dictum became widespread among Jewish scholars: "Repeat [your lessons], and repeat [your lessons], but never stand in need of the marking nut!"
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Semecarpus anacardium by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
