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''Aleurites moluccanus'' (or ''moluccana''), the candlenut, is a flowering tree in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, also known as candleberry, Indian walnut, kemiri, varnish tree, nuez de la India, buah keras or kukui nut tree. Its native range is impossible to establish precisely because of early spread by humans, and the tree is now distributed throughout the New and Old World tropics. It grows to a height of , with wide spreading or pendulous branches. The leaves are pale green, simple and ovate, or trilobed or rarely five-lobed, with an acute apex, long. The nut is round, in diameter; the seed inside has a very hard seed coat and a high oil content, which allows its use as a candle (see below), hence its name. ==Uses== The nut is often used cooked in Indonesian and Malaysian cuisine, where it is called ''kemiri'' in Indonesian or ''buah keras'' in Malay. On the island of Java in Indonesia, it is used to make a thick sauce that is eaten with vegetables and rice. In the Philippines, the fruit and tree are traditionally known as ''Lumbang'' after which Lumban, a lakeshore town in Laguna is named. Outside of Southeast Asia, macadamia seeds are sometimes substituted for candlenuts when they are not available, as they have a similarly high oil content and texture when pounded. The flavor, however, is quite different, as the candlenut is much more bitter. At least one cultivar in Costa Rica has no bitterness, and an improvement program could likely produce an important food crop if non-toxic varieties can be selected and propagated. A Hawaiian condiment known as ''Inamona'' is made from roasted ''kukui'' (candlenuts) mixed into a paste with salt. ''Inamona'' is a key ingredient in traditional Hawaiian ''poke''. In ancient Hawaii, ''kukui'' nuts were burned to provide light. The nuts were strung in a row on a palm leaf midrib, lit one end, and burned one by one every 15 minutes or so. This led to their use as a measure of time. One could instruct someone to return home before the second nut burned out. Hawaiians also extracted the oil from the nut and burned it in a stone oil lamp called a ''kukui hele po'' (light, darkness goes) with a wick made of ''kapa'' cloth. Hawaiians also had many other uses for the tree, including: leis from the shells, leaves and flowers; ink for tattoos from charred nuts; a varnish with the oil; and fishermen would chew the nuts and spit them on the water to break the surface tension and remove reflections, giving them greater underwater visibility. A red-brown dye made from the inner bark was used on ''kapa'' and ''aho'' (''Touchardia latifolia'' cordage). A coating of ''kukui'' oil helped preserve ''upena'' (fishing nets).〔 The ''nohona waa'' (seats), ''pale'' (gunwales) of ''waa'' (outrigger canoes) were made from the wood. The trunk was sometimes used to make smaller canoes used for fishing. ''Kukui'' was named the state tree of Hawaii on 1 May 1959 due to its multitude of uses. It also represents the island of Molokai, whose symbolic color is the silvery green of the ''kukui'' leaf.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Canoe Plants of Ancient Hawaii )〕 In Tonga, even today, ripe nuts, named ''tuitui'' are pounded into a paste, ''tukilamulamu'', and used as soap or shampoo. As recently as 1993, candlenuts were chewed into sweet-scented emollient utilized during a traditional funerary ritual in the outlying islands of the Kingdom of Tonga. Their scent was also used for making various sweet smelling oils for the skin.〔Morrison, R. Bruce and C. Roderick Wilson, eds. (2002) Ethnographic Essays in Cultural Anthropology. Bellmont, CA: Wadsworth. p. 18. ISBN 0-87581-445-X〕 Dead wood of candlenut is eaten by a larva of a coleoptera called ''Agrionome fairmairei''. This larva is eaten by some people. Modern cultivation is mostly for the oil. In plantations, each tree will produce 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. In Uganda, the seed is referred to as ''Kabakanjagala'' meaning "The King loves me"〔(Cultural Impressions )〕 and is traditionally used as an improvised toy to play a marbles game fondly called ''dool(oo)''. File:Candle nuts (kemiri).jpg|Candlenuts (kemiri) from Indonesia File:Aleurites moluccana flower4.jpg| ''Aleurites moluccanus'' flowers File:The young leaves of Aleurites moluccana.JPG|Young leaves showing the hairy character 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aleurites moluccanus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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