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The Kukui or Candlenut Tree 



By C. S. Judd, Supcvintcndent of Forestry. 



One of the handsomest trees in the Hawaiian Islands is the 

 kukui or candlenut tree, Aleurites moJuccana (L.) Willd., which 

 belongs to the Euphorbia family and is a native of ^lalaya and 

 Polynesia. It is now planted in most tropical countries where 

 here and there it has become naturalized. In India it is called 

 the Indian walnut and the Belgaum walnut and in the Philip- 

 pines it is known as lumbang. 



The kukui was probably brought to Hawaii in prehistorical 

 times by the natives when they made their venturesome canoe 

 voyages from "Kahiki," for they depended for their illumination 

 on the oily nuts of this tree and from the juice of the fleshy 

 covering of its green fruit secured the black dye with which they 

 tattooed their skins. 



The light, silvery green color of the kukui foliage makes it 

 readily distinguishable in the Hawaiian forest and, from afar, its 

 rounded crowns hugging the mountain slopes or nestled in shal- 

 low valleys resemble clusters, of lettuce. The kukui prefers the 

 richer soils and for this reason is found mainly on the lower 

 slopes and in valley bottoms. It occurs in the dry as well as the 

 wet regions, however, and is the distinguishing tree in the forest 

 type which is found from approximately 1000 to 2000 feet above 

 sea level. In deep and narrow gulches, where the crown of the 

 tree reaches up to the light, it often attains a height of 80 feet 

 and grows with long and slender boles which for the most part 

 are clear of branches. When grown in the open the kukui is 

 much branched and displays a low, spreading crown with a trunk 

 diameter of several feet. 



Oil flat lands in both the wet and dry region the kukui is often 

 found growing in extensive groves such as the one (shown in 

 the accompanying illustration") at Kilauea, Kauai, under whose 

 pleasing and protective shade the early missionaries used to give 

 religious instructions to the Hawaiians. In dry, shallow, upland 

 gulches one may often travel for miles beneath the cooling shade 

 of tall kukui trees which form such a complete crown canopy that 

 very little, if any, ground cover is found beneath them. 



The leaves of the kukui, which seem to be covered with a sil- 

 very gray powder, are very variable in shape and may be undi- 

 vided or 3, 5 to 7 triangularly lobed. On the older trees the 

 leaves are invariabl}' smaller than on young, rapidly-growing sap- 

 lings. The clusters of creamy white blossoms found at the end 

 of branchlets are extremely attractive. 



The fruit -is fleshy and contains from 1 to 2 nuts which are 

 rough, and furrowed like a walnut and very hard shelled. The 



