The Anacardiaceae, commonly known as the cashew family or sumac family, are a family of flowering plants, including about 83 genera with about 860 known species. Members of the Anacardiaceae bear fruits that are drupes and in some cases produce urushiol, an irritant. The Anacardiaceae include numerous genera, several of which are economically important, notably cashew (in the type genus Anacardium), mango, Chinese lacquer tree, yellow mombin, Peruvian pepper, sumac, smoke tree, marula, and cuachalalate. The genus Pistacia (which includes the pistachio and mastic tree) is now included, but was previously placed in its own family, the Pistaciaceae.
The cashew family is more abundant in warm or tropical regions, with only a few species living in the temperate zones.
Resin canals located in the inner fibrous bark of the fibrovascular system found in the plant's stems, roots, and leaves are characteristic of all members of this family; resin canals located in the pith are characteristic of many of the cashew family species and several species have them located in the primary cortex or the regular bark. Tannin sacs are also widespread among the family.
The wood of the Anacardiaceae has the frequent occurrence of simple, small holes in the vessels, occasionally in some species side by side with scalariform holes (in Campnosperma, Micronychia, and Heeria argentea (Anaphrenium argenteum). The simple pits are located along the vessel wall and in contact with the parenchyma. estipulate (without stipule) and imparipinnate (rarely paripinnate or bipinnate), usually with opposite leaflets (rarely alternate), while others are trifoliolate or simple or unifoliolate (very rarely simple leaves are palmate). Leaf architecture is very diverse. Primary venation is pinnate (rarely palmate). Secondary venation is eucamptodromous, brochidodromous, craspedodromous or cladodromous (rarely reticulodromous) Cladodromous venation, if present is considered diagnostic for the Anacardiaceae.
Robert Brown described a subset of the Terebintaceae called Cassuvlæ or Anacardeæ in 1818, using the herbarium that was collected by Christen Smith during a fated expedition headed by James Hingston Tuckey to explore the River Congo. The name and genera were based on the order with the same name that had been described by de Jussieu in 1759. The herbarium from that expedition contained only one genus from the family, Rhus.
Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1824, used Robert Brown's name Cassuvlæ or Anacardeæ, wrote another description of the group, and filled it with the genera Anacardium, Semecarpus, Holigarna, Mangifera, Buchanania, Pistacia, Astronium, Comocladia, and Picramnia.
John Lindley described the "essential character" of the Anacardiaceæ, the "Cashew Tribe" in 1831, adopting the order that was described by de Jussieu, but abandoning the name Terebintaceæ. He includes the genera that were found in de Candolle's Anacardieæ and Sumachineæ: Anacardium, Holigarna, Mangifera, Rhus, and Mauria. The genus Abrahamia was separated from Protorhus in 2004.(Pell 2004)
Subdivision
The family has been treated as a series of five tribes by Engler, and later into subfamilies by Takhtajan, as Anacardioideae (including tribes Anacardieae, Dobineae, Rhoideae, and Semecarpeae) and Spondiadoideae (including tribe Spondiadeae). Pell's (2008) molecular analysis reinstated the two subfamilies without further division into tribes (Pell 2004). Later, Min and Barfod, in the Flora of China (2008) reinstated the five tribes (four in Anacardioideae), and the single tribe Spondiadeae as Spondiadoideae.
Genera
81 genera are accepted:
Uses
Members of this family produce cashew and pistachio nuts, and mango and marula fruits.