Origin

Latin America

Folk medicinal uses

"caju", oil ---- There are references to the utilization of cashew, "caju", oil in the curing of leprosy.

The inner bark, cooked, is used for rinsing the mouth and gargling for mouth ulcers and throat infections. In infusions or macerated it is used in the curing of diabetes and asthma.

The pseudo-fruit and the juice are rich in Ascorbic acid and Riboflavin. They are used to make a tonic, sedative, diuretic, in cases of poisoning, as a depurative, to improve diet, and in cases of diarrhoea.

Pseudo-fruit--- There are indications of the pseudo-fruit and of the oil extracted from the nut bein~

used as an antisyphilitic and in skin diseases.

The bark is used in the treatment of haemorrhages and is also well known as an antidiabetic. The recommended does is of 4 grams of bark in 1 glass of boiling water 2 or 3 times a day. There are references to the use of the bark as an aphrodisiac when bottled and macerated in "aguardente" (Sugar cane spirits). It is also used as a disinfectant, for the cleansing of eczemas, leucorrhea and infections of the feet.

Trunk ----By cutting the trunk one gets a resin-like substance, light brown in colour,perfumed, hard, and acrid in taste. This resin when dissolved in water is used as an expectorant in cases of persistent coughing. The Indians use this resin as a powder, and it is mixed with a liquid to be taken by women whose menstrual period did not occur (Braga, 1960).

Some medicinal forest plants of Africa and Latin America 67/ FAO. – FAO: Rome, 1986. – p. 48.