Cashew, (Anacardium occidentale), evergreen shrub or tree of the sumac family (Anacardiaceae), cultivated for its characteristically curved edible seeds, which are commonly called cashew nuts though they are not true nuts. It appears as though one of its ends has been forcibly sunk into a pear-shaped swollen stem (hypocarp), called the cashew apple. The cashew apple, which is an accessory fruit (not a true fruit), is about three times as large as the true fruit and is reddish or yellow.
