Candlenut: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The candlenut, candleberry, Indian walnut, varnish tree or kuku'i nut tree, Aleurites moluccana (L.) Willd. (Family Euphorbiaceae) is native to Malesia. Its native range is impossible to establish precisely because of early spread by man, and the tree is now widely distributed in the new and old world tropics. The tree grows to a height of up to 20 m (60 ft), and is ornamental, with widespreading or pendulous branches bearing pale green leaves. The nut is roundish, and furrowed, about 2 (1-4) cm in diameter, and the seed inside has a very hard seed coat and has a high oil content.

The candlenut has many uses:

• It is often used in Malaysian cuisine.
• Several parts of the plant have been used in traditional medicine in most of the areas where it is native. The oil is an irritant and purgative and sometimes used like castor oil; it has also been used as a hair stimulant. The seed kernels have a laxative effect. In Japan its bark has been used on tumors. In Sumatra, pounded seeds, burned with charcoal, are applied around the navel for costiveness. In Malaya, the pulped kernels or boiled leaves are used in poultices for headache, fevers, ulcers, swollen joints, and gonnorhea. In Java, the bark is used for bloody diarrhea or dysentery.
• In ancient Hawai‘i, nuts were burned to provide light. This led to their use as a measure of time. The nuts were strung in a row on a palm leaf midrib and one end lit. One could then instruct someone to return home before the second nut burned out.

In Hawai‘i—kuku‘i is the Hawaiian name—the tree has spiritual significance of hope and renewal, and was involved in many legends. One such was about a woman who, despite her best efforts to please her husband, was routinely beaten. Finally, the husband beat her to death and buried her under a kuku'i tree. Being a kind and just woman, she was given new life, and the husband was eventually killed.

Modern cultivation is mostly for the oil. In plantations, each tree will produce 30–80 kg of nuts, and the nuts yield 15 to 20% of their weight in oil. Most of the oil is used locally rather than figuring in international trade.