﻿PHILIPPINE OIL-BEARING SEEDS. 441 



DESCRIPTION AND LOCAL USES. 



Aleurites moluecana. — This is locally known as lumbang or lumbang bato in 

 Tagalog, meaning stony fruit, and it is identical with the English candle nut. A 

 very common, large tree, cultivated throughout most of the Archipelago, but more 

 especially in Laguna, Cavite, Tayabas. and Batangas Provinces. It is found 

 scattered in the Provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac, but is unknown in Bataan 

 and Zambales. The supply of this nut is greater than the present demand and 

 frequently the trees are cut for firewood which, because of its resinous quality, 

 is highly prized. The wood is also marketed in Manila for match timber. The 

 tree bears a large, rleshy fruit containing two very hard-shelled seeds which 

 resemble a fairly large hickory nut in size and appearance. 



Distribution.* — "Everywhere in Oceanica and the Sandwich Islands, and also 

 cultivated in India, South America, West Indies, etc. In the Sandwich Islands 

 the manufacture s of candle-nut oil is a considerable branch of industry, about 

 10,000 barrels being annually exported to Peru, Valparaiso, Mexico, California and 

 New York." The seed yields from 60 to 65 per cent of oil by extraction with 

 carbon bisulphide, ether or chloroform, and about 55 per cent by hydraulic 

 expression at 500 kilos per square centimeter. 



Semler 5 describes the candle nut as follows : 



'"A product of Aleurites moluecana, a tree which like the croton tree belongs 

 to the family Euplwrbiaceie. Formerly the Aleurites triloba was understood to 

 be a distinct species because of its three-lobed leaves, but all transitions from 

 not lobed to lobed leaves are found on the same tree. Habitat: It stretches 

 from the South Sea islands over the Malay Archipelago over India and Mada- 

 gascar. It appears to live in heavy stands in the forests. It is abundant at 

 800 meters (2,650 feet) but disappears at 1,200 meters elevation. Its roundish 

 fruits are about the size of a small apple and are contained in a thick, fleshy 

 scale, containing one or two hard seeds about the size of a horse-chestnut. The 

 fruit in its rough state is a purge. When it is roasted it loses its purging 

 properties. Contains 00 to 66 per cent oil. When cold pressed the oil is 

 colorless and of agreeable odor and taste. When hot pressed it is brown and 

 of a disagreeable taste. It has for a long time been known as a drying oil. 



"The natives of the South Sea islands roast the fruit out of the shell. The 

 oil is used for lights and for painting. The pressed cake is mixed with water 

 and put around trees to drive away insects." 



Philippine candle nut. — One kilo of whole nuts from Cavite Province 

 contained 660 grains of shell, and 340 grams of kernels, or 66 and 34 

 per cent of shell and kernel, respectively. 



One kilo of whole nuts crushed and ground in an oil mill and cold 

 pressed yielded 175.7 grams of light, clear oil, which equals 17.57 per cent 

 calculated on the gross weight of kernels and shells. Calculated on the 

 kernels alone the yield is 51.67 per cent. The physical and chemical 

 constants of lumbang oil are given in Table II. 



By far the most general local use made of lumbang oil is for painting 

 liancas (canoes) and for treating timber intended for use in the water, 



1 Brant, W. T. : Animal and Vegetable Fats and Oils, Phil. (1896), 2, 1. 

 "Trop. Agr. (1<)0:?), 2, 517. 

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