Brazil’s 500-meter-wide cashew tree is actually one plant; its ground-rooting branches produce up to 2.5 tons of fruit each year

You might've heard or come across this claim that there exists an exceptionally enormous tree in Brazil, such that it appears to form an entire forest at first glance, although actually being just one plant. It may sound like one of those statements made by travel influencers who like to spice up their captions; however, this assertion is factual and not a figment of imagination.

According to Guinness World Records, the Cashew Tree of Pirangi or Cajueiro de Pirangi in Pirangi do Norte, which is a piece of coastline near Natal, Brazil, takes up a total land area of approximately 8,500 square meters, with a 500-meter perimeter. No mistake was made in recording those figures, and it is indeed not a forest, because they are from a single cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale).

However, what needs to be noted is that the Pirangi tree has faced challenges to its reputation as being “the biggest.” There is a cashew tree at the Cajueiro da Praia in the Brazilian state of Piauí that covers 8,800 square meters of land. Although no verification from Guinness has confirmed the claim about the size of this tree, it does remain an issue of debate.


A tree that forgot to stop

Most trees grow upwards. This tree, however, grows sideways, in all directions, apparently oblivious to the need for verticality. The tree's sheer footprint is due to the genetic mutation that allows it to develop new roots wherever its branches touch the ground. Instead of a tree with one trunk supporting a canopy of leaves, you have a maze-like network of self-replicating branches.

The locals measure the tree's footprint at about 500 meters in circumference. Walk around its footprint, and you will find yourself encircling an area of land which, from the perspective of ground level, looks like a full cashew plantation. It's just one organism. The tree is also productive. Depending on the season, it bears up to 60,000 to 80,000 fruits annually, depending on the season and who's counting.

Why does this matter?

Of course, most of us may not be planning a visit to Brazil for a tree, regardless of how amazing it may be. But there is something refreshingly practical about the giant cashew tree of Pirangi that serves as a much-needed reminder in a society obsessed with perfecting things in all spheres of life, even ourselves. The giant cashew did not have a hack to growing fast. It just continued to do what was rather boring and unimpressive for more than a hundred years: letting its branches touch soil, and achieved something no other plantation could.

Then there is an entirely more concrete reason to give some consideration to: the fruit itself. The cashew has become a widely popular food item. According to a 2023 report titled “Consumption of Tree Nuts as Snacks Reduces Metabolic Syndrome Risk in Young Adults: A Randomized Trial,” published in Nutrients, replacing conventional carbohydrate-heavy snacks with an ounce of a mix of tree nuts twice a day resulted in significant changes in waist circumference, blood lipids, and insulin measurements in 22 to 36-year-olds, all without reducing calories.

While cashews were a component of the tree nut mix, rather than tested alone, it is worth resisting the temptation to anoint any one particular nut a superfood. However, the finding does align with years of nutritional research: tree nuts, including the cashew, deserve their place in your kitchen cabinet by dint of evidence, not vibe.

The part almost nobody mentions

Here is the slightly critical aspect. The genetics of the cashew are not as neat as the appearance of the product would suggest. The scientists who mapped the cashew genome note that there hasn't been much success in developing the crop since the genetics of the cashew vary so much from one tree to another, which is part of why a single specimen like the Pirangi cashew can be such a dramatic outlier.

In other words, "world's biggest cashew tree" isn't an indication that a popular method of farming might work for everyone; it is actually a genetic rarity that was extremely lucky with time, soil conditions, and lack of pruning by those who considered trimming it down to size.

Perhaps this is the lesson after all, without any exaggerations: something became huge because no effort was put into trimming its uniqueness. We could all use more of that kind of approach and a lot fewer productivity hacks.