Anacardium occidentale or cashew nut, locally known as ketereh or gajus in Malay belongs to the same family as the mango, the Anacardiaceae. It is native to Brazil. In Asia, the tree is widely grown in tropical and subtropical regions of Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. It can be grown in sandy soils, in areas with high temperatures and dry seasons. In Peninsular Malaysia, the tree is mostly planted on drier sandy soils along the east coast and in the north.

The species is a small evergreen tree to 15 m tall, with a spreading and much-branched crown. It has simple, alternate, coriaceous, glabrous, obovate leaves, rounded at the ends, reddish to pale green when young and dark green when mature. The inflorescence is a terminal panicle-like cluster consisting of male and hermaphroditic flowers in the same inflorescence. Female flowers have five green sepals and five green yellowish petals. The male flowers bear one long stamen and nine staminodes.