Wood is soft and light, and can be used for construction, tools, furniture and boxes. The nut contains a very toxic oil, but is edible if roasted. Seeds are dispersed by fruit-eating bats-they eat the fleshy fruit and drop the nuts for germination. The Wild Cashew tree fruits from March to June, and fruits are eaten by many birds and mammals. They form on a twisted, fleshy appendage, 3 cm long. They produce a strong, sweet, clove-like scent.įruits are fleshy and kidney-shaped, 3-4 cm long and resemble a cashew. Flowers bloom from December to April during Panama’s dry season. They are arranged in inflorescence of loose, broad clusters at ends of branches. Flowers are small, creamy green to pinkish in color. Leaves on young trees are much longer than mature leaves. Leaves are alternate and spiraling at the end of each branch leaf blades are 9-40 cm long and 5-16 cm wide, widest near apex, forming an inverse teardrop shape. It lacks large buttresses, but the base of the trunk is somewhat enlarged. This tree is distinguished by its coarse bark, deeply grooved and sometimes flaking. Standing up to 60 m tall and with a trunk up to 3 meters in diameter, this is no doubt a forest giant. A close relative to the commercial Cashew tree, the Wild Cashew, locally known as Espavé, is a huge, common tree in the lowland humid forests of Central Panama.