THREE NEW NUTS 



Pili Nut From Philippines and Paradise Nut From Brazil Becoming Favorites in 



American Markets — Queensland Nut Promises to be a Valuable Commercial 



Nut Well Adapted to Southern California and Regions of Similar Climate. 



The Editor 



FOLLOWING an increase of inter- 

 est in nuts as food among con- 

 sumers, and in nuts as a crop 

 among horticulturists, several 

 new sorts have appeared on the markets 

 of the United States, and by their excel- 

 lence give promise of attaining consider- 

 able commercial importance. The best 

 known of these is probably the Pili nut 

 of the Philippines, which is now com- 

 monly sold throughout the United States 

 at about twenty-five cents a pound, 

 although it has been in the trade for 

 only a few years. 



Disregarding some confusion in 

 nomenclature, it appears that the Pili 

 nuts of commerce are the fruit of Canar- 

 ium ovatum and C. luzonicum of the 

 Philippines and to a slight extent of 

 C. commune of the Dutch East Indies, 

 belonging to the natural order Bur- 

 seraceae. The genus contains a hundred 

 or more species, and is of Indo-Malayan 

 origin, but has outposts in Africa, China 

 and Australia. It hardly appears prob- 

 able, from its distribution, that it is 

 adapted to crdture in the United States, 

 but it might be made a valuable crop in 

 Central or South America, since in addi- 

 tion to nuts the trees yield a valuable 

 resin, the "gum elemi" of the pharma- 

 copeia, whose stimulating properties are 

 valued in plasters and ointments. 



"The texture of the kernel," Barrett' 

 remarks, "is almost ideal: it is exceed- 

 ingly light without being spongy, brittle 

 without being hard, and highly flavored 

 without being oily. It is so easily 

 digested that a kind of infant food is 

 said to be prepared from it, the blanched 



kernels probably being pressed to remove 

 excess of oil, and then ground.* * * 

 Even the pulpy husk of thoroughly ripe 

 nuts is eaten by Filipinos in some dis- 

 tricts. 



' ' It appears that nowhere in the 

 Philippines is the Pili actually culti- 

 vated, although in the Moluccas a 

 species which may also occur in Min- 

 danao {C. commune) is actually under 

 cultivation." 



BREAD MADE FROM THE NUTS. 



The nuts of the latter species, although 

 little different from the Pili {C. ovatumf) 

 and perhaps sold in the United States 

 under the same name, are in the East 

 known as Java Almonds. Hogg says^ 

 the tree attains a height of 50 feet, and 

 its nuts furnish an important article of 

 food to the natives; "but they are con- 

 sidered very unwholesome if eaten fresh, 

 which is known by the exterior pellicle 

 being of a pale white color with purple 

 streaks, instead of reddish; and then 

 they cause dysentery and diarrhoea. 

 They are eaten both raw and roasted, 

 and in Amboyna they are converted into 

 bread, which is made in rolls about a 

 yard in length and one inch thick; they 

 are also made into a sort of marmalade. 

 An oil is expressed from them which is 

 used at the table when fresh, and in 

 lamps when stale." The fruits of other 

 species are pickled and eaten like olives. 



The oil of commerce, known as Java 

 Almond oil or Canary oil, is secured from 

 a number of species,^ which are some- 

 times planted as shade in nutmeg plan- 

 tations, although the nuts are usually 



^Barrett, O. W., in Philippine Agricultural Review, November, 1912. 

 2Hogg, Robert. The Vegetable Kingdom. 254. London, 1858. 



'Krause, M Eine neue Fettfrucht aus Deutsch Neu Guinee. Tropenpflanzer, XVII, 3, 147, 

 1913 



179 



