The trees are a member of the same family as poison ivy, and like poison ivy, cashew plants contain a toxin called urushiol. It's found in the plant itself and the brown oil inside a nut's shell.

The cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale) is a tropical evergreen tree that produces the cashew seed and the cashew apple accessory fruit. The tree can grow as high as 14 m (46 ft), but the dwarf ...

Fresh cashew ‘fruit’ has a very short shelf-life so is used as soon as it has fallen from the tree. In some parts of the world, cashew ‘fruit’ are turned into various alcoholic drinks.