20/09/2026
At first glance, this looks like a small forest.
It isn't.
The enormous patch of green in Pirangi do Norte, Brazil, belongs to one cashew tree.
Known as the Cajueiro de Pirangi, it is recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's largest cashew tree, spreading across roughly 8,500 square meters.
That is roughly the footprint of 70 ordinary cashew trees.
But its size is not just the result of age.
The tree has an unusual mutation that causes several of its branches to behave differently from normal cashew branches.
When those branches grow outward and eventually touch the ground, they can put down new roots.
Those rooted branches then become secondary trunks.
They grow outward again.
Touch the ground again.
Root again.
And over generations of growth, one tree starts looking like an entire grove.
Some of its branches extend around 50 meters from the central trunk, while the whole tree has a perimeter of roughly 500 meters.
And it still produces cashews.
Municipal records have reported harvests of around 70,000 to 80,000 fruits in productive seasons, adding up to roughly 2.5 tonnes.
Local tradition says the tree was planted in 1888 by a fisherman named Luís Inácio de Oliveira, although Guinness treats that origin story as traditional rather than definitively established.
More than a century later, the tree has grown so large that officials have had to discuss pruning and management simply to keep its continued expansion compatible with nearby roads and public access.
One trunk became many.
One tree became something that looks like a forest.
Sources: Guinness World Records; Municipality of Parnamirim; Parnamirim City Council.
Would you believe this was one tree if you saw the aerial photo without knowing the story?