3. Aleurites, Forst.

Trees with stellate pubescence. Leaves alternate, petiolate,. large, entire or 3–7-lobed. Flowers in terminal cymes, monœcious. Male flowers: Calyx splitting into 2–3 valvate segments. Petals 5, longer than the calyx. Stamens 8–20, on a central receptacle, 5 outer opposite the petals, alternating with 5 small glands; anthers adnate, cells parallel. Female flowers: Calyx and petals of the males. Ovary 2–5-celled; styles 2–5, bifid; ovules 1 in each cell. Fruit large, drupaceous; exocarp somewhat fleshy; endocarp 1–5-celled. Seeds large; testa thick, woody; cotyledons broad, flat.

A small genus of 3 species, natives of eastern Asia and the Pacific islands.

• 1. A. moluccana, Willd. Sp. Plant, iv. 590. — A handsome spreading tree 30–40 ft. high or more; young leaves and branches more or less clothed with pale or ferruginous stellate pubescence, almost glabrous when old. Leaves crowded towards the ends of the branches, 4–9 in. long, very variable in shape, ovate-lanceolate to broadly rhomboid-ovate, obtuse or acute, entire or 3–5- or 7-lobed. Cymes broad, much branched, tomentose; pedicels short. Flowers numerous, white. Calyx very small, tomentose. Petals about ¼ in. long, obovate, bearded at the base. Stamens 15–20; filaments short, hairy. Female flowers fewer and smaller than the males. Fruit 2 in. diam., smooth, fleshy; seeds 1–2, rarely 3; testa rugose. —Benih. Fl. Austral, vi. 128; Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx. (1888) 172. A. triloba, Forst. Char. Gen. 112, t. 56.

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  Kermadec Islands: Sunday Island, not uncommon on the northern and eastern sides of the island, T. F. C. Candle-nut.

  Widely distributed in the Pacific islands and tropical Asia, also extensively planted and naturalised in hot countries. The seeds or "nuts" contain an excellent oil, so that in many parts of Polynesia they are strung on sticks and used as candles, whence the English name of "candle-nut."