Wild Cashew in Northeast Brazil: Northeast Brazil is an important region for the future conservation of wild genotypes of the cashew fruit tree, a plant species of global economic importance. Natural forms of Anacardium occidentale known as cajuí or cajuizeiro occur in the coastal restinga vegetation and in the cerrados of the interior and were classified as the restinga and cerrado ecotypes, respectively, in the taxonomic monograph by John D. Mitchell and Scott A. Mori (The cashew and its relatives (Anacardium: Anacardiaceae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. vol. 42, 1987). Detailed botanical studies of wild populations of this species have only begun to appear relatively recently, although there is a great deal of research published on cultivated genotypes germplasm collections collected originally both from the wild and from domesticated plants. A research team at the Federal University of Piauí led by Dr Ivanilza M. Andrade has been active in this field in recent years (see publications below). Further postgraduate studies are currently in progress at UFPI.
Recent Publications: Andrade et al. (2019) has provided more details of the restinga ecotype of Anacardium occidentale, known locally as cajuí or cajuizeiro. This study compared wild populations of cajuí in the dune fields of northeastern Piauí with populations or aggregations of domesticated A. occidentale (caju, cajueiro). Download supplementary materials and R scripts here.
Literature including morphometric or molecular analyses of Anacardium: See list of references here