Economic Woods of Hawaii 701 



Like the koa, with which it is often associated, the kukui has 

 several growth forms. When not crowded for room it has a short 

 thick tnmk, with many large, horizontal crooked branches, sup- 

 porting a beautiful dome of silvery-green foliage, that begins al- 

 most at the ground and rises to a height of thirty or forty feet. 

 The lower branches are often prostrate on the ground, supported by 

 curious elbow-like angles. This is the common form in the lower 

 forest and the shallow ravines. In the narrow gorges and vaUey- 

 heads the tree is frequently fifty to eighty feet tall, with a smooth 

 straight bole, and a high, compact crown. 



The leaves of young trees and branches are large, dark green, 

 and digitately five to seven-lobed, somewhat like those of our 

 mainland Planatus. The matiu-e foliage is small, ovate, and clad 

 with silvery-gray woolly tomentimi. This gives the kukui 

 crown a characteristic silvery aspect, recognizable at a great dis- 

 tance, and readily distinguishing it from any other Hawaiian 

 tree. The flowers are dioecious, in loose, terminal, cymose corymbs. 

 The fruit is globular, fleshy coriaceous, 13^-2 inches in diameter, 

 with one or two large, hard-shelled, oily nuts. 



These nuts constitute the commercial value of the tree. The 

 ancient Hawaiians, and other native peoples, used the nuts for 

 illimiination, either stringing the oily kernels on fiber and burning 

 them like a candle — hence the name candle-nut — or expressing 

 the oil by pounding the kernels, and burning it in open stone 

 saucer-like lamps, with a bit of fiber for a wick. The kukui oil 

 is very similar to the "wood oil" of China and other parts of Asia, 

 which is obtained from another species of Aleiirites. It possesses 

 certain drying properties which make it excellent for fine paints, 

 lacquers, and varnishes. It is also used in soap-making, as a wood 

 preservative, and in medicine. 



At various times in the history of Hawaii there have been com- 

 mercial attempts to establish a local kukui oil industry. In 

 monarchical days the annual exports amounted to ten thousand 

 gallons, but the industry lapsed with shifting political and eco- 

 nomic conditions. In 1915, a new corporation, the Hawaiian 

 Kukui Oil Company, was organized with a capitalization of 

 $25,000. The machinery for separating the kernels from the 

 shells and husks, and for expressing the oH, is comparatively 

 simple and inexpensive. 



The company estimates a total available kukui acreage of about 



