Flora of New Zealand Series

candlenut

Tree, up to 20 m high. Twigs densely clothed in stellate hairs when young, becoming rounded, ± smooth and glabrous when older. Lvs densely clothed in stellate hairs when young, glabrous when mature, ovate or broadly ovate and 3-5-lobed, sometimes entire and ovate near infl., obtuse to cordate at base, c. 6-13 cm long; apex and lobes usually acute (lateral lobes rarely rounded); lf hairs giving a frosted appearance to the tree; petiole usually = or > blade; stipules soon deciduous. Panicles erect; bracts deciduous; fls white. Fr. glabrous, shallowly grooved between cells, ± smooth or irregularly bullate, c. 2.5 cm diam., becoming very hard; beak short or 0.

K.: known from 4 localities on Raoul only.

Possibly Malaysia 1888

Plantation and forest.

FL Sep-Feb.

Candlenut has a long history of cultivation in Malesia and many Pacific Is. It has been spread by Polynesian travellers and may also be dispersed by sea drift. At one time it was thought to be indigenous to K., but this is now considered to be unlikely (Sykes 1977). The oily kernel was formerly used for making candles.