Macadamia tetraphylla | |
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Foliage and fruits | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Proteales |
Family: | Proteaceae |
Genus: | Macadamia |
Species: | M. tetraphylla |
Binomial name | |
Macadamia tetraphylla | |
Macadamia tetraphylla is a tree in the family Proteaceae, native to southern Queensland and northern New South Wales in Australia. Common names include macadamia nut, bauple nut, prickly macadamia, Queensland nut, rough-shelled bush nut and rough-shelled Queensland nut.
This species has dense foliage and grows up to 18 metres in height. The leaves have toothed margins and are 7 to 25 cm long. As the species name "tetraphylla" implies, it usually has four leaves more or less equally spaced around each leaf node, whereas the other main commercial species "integrifolia" has a variable leaf number but usually three. It has long, pendant white to creamy pink to purple flowers, followed by woody, rounded fruits which are 2 to 3 cm in diameter and contain edible seeds. [2] As one common name implies, the shell of this species is often dimpled or "rough shelled" as compared to the integrifolia, which has a smooth shell and white flowers.
It has been introduced to Mexico and has done well in the states of Michoacán and Jalisco and has become an important export crop for the Mexican market. [3] Hawaii is the largest exporter of this crop worldwide. Both species of Macadamia have not done well in the pure tropics, with no fully successful plantations less than 15 degrees from the equator. Major plantations in Costa Rica, at 10 degrees north, are said to produce much less than in Hawaii at 19 to 22 degrees north, in one case 20% the production. Plantations in Guatemala at 15 degrees north are successful. However, individual seedling trees have produced well in the pure tropics and need to be selected. One grower noted that the integrifolia flowers in Costa Rica have no aroma, leading to low and erratic pollination. Macadamia tetraphylla has a higher sugar content than integrifolia, leading to problems of burning when baked in cookies and other desserts, thus most commercial macadamias are of the integrifolia species to assure conformity of roasting and baking results. Many tetraphylla or hybrids of tetraphylla and integrifolia are grown in home orchards. The higher sugar content of tetraphylla is preferred by some, especially for eating raw.
Macadamia tetraphylla was the first Australian native food plant to be grown by non-indigenous Australians as a commercial crop. The first commercial plantation of macadamia trees were planted in the early 1880s by Charles Staff at Rous Mill, 12 km southeast of Lismore, New South Wales, consisting of M. tetraphylla. [4] Seedlings from the original plantation were used as rootstock for grafted modern varieties well into the 20th century. This original plantation was finally cleared and replaced with grafted modern varieties in the 1990s.
Ironically, even as the macadamia has spread worldwide in commercial agriculture, it is now listed as a vulnerable species in its native Australia due to habitat loss and degradation. The loss and impoverishment of its habitat has resulted from clearance of lowland rainforest for agriculture and urban development; invasive weeds; and poorly-designed fire management systems. [5]
Like many other nuts, as well as olives, macadamia nuts are high in monounsaturated fatty acids (containing approximately 86%). Monounsaturated fatty acids have been linked to reduced cholesterol in the blood. [6]
The FDA has approved for manufacturers of macadamia products to use this verbiage, “Supportive but not conclusive research shows that eating 1.5 ounces per day of macadamia nuts, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol and not resulting in increased intake of saturated fat or calories may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. See nutrition information for fat [and calorie] content.” It is important to note that this is a "qualified health claim" and not meeting the rigorous standard of "significant scientific agreement". [7]
The pistachio, a member of the cashew family, is a small tree originating in Persia. The tree produces seeds that are widely consumed as food. The word can be countable or uncountable, meaning its plural is with or without an 's'.
The peanut, also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large commercial producers, both as grain legume and as an oil crop. Atypically among legumes, peanut pods develop underground leading botanist Carl Linnaeus to name peanuts hypogaea, which means "under the earth".
A sunflower seed is a seed from a sunflower. There are three types of commonly used sunflower seeds: linoleic, high oleic, and sunflower oil seeds. Each variety has its own unique levels of monounsaturated, saturated, and polyunsaturated fats. The information in this article refers mainly to the linoleic variety.
Mount Bauple is a scientific national park in the Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia, 190 km north of Brisbane.
The pecan is a species of hickory native to the southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River.
A nut is a fruit consisting of a hard or tough nutshell protecting a kernel which is usually edible. In general usage and in a culinary sense, many dry seeds are called nuts. In a botanical context, "nut" implies that the shell does not open to release the seed (indehiscent).
The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus Corylus, especially the nuts of the species Corylus avellana. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according to species.
Macadamia is a genus of four species of trees in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. They are indigenous to Australia, native to northeastern New South Wales and central and southeastern Queensland specifically. Two species of the genus are commercially important for their fruit, the macadamia nut. Global production in 2015 was 160,000 tonnes. Other names include Queensland nut, bush nut, maroochi nut, bauple nut and, in the US, they are also known as Hawaii nut. It was an important source of bushfood for the Aboriginal peoples.
Canarium ovatum, the pili, is a species of tropical tree belonging to the genus Canarium. It is one of approximately 600 species in the family Burseraceae. C. ovatum are native to the Philippines. They are commercially cultivated in the Philippines for their edible nuts and is believed to be indigenous to that country. The fruit and tree are often vulgarized with the umbrella term of "Java almond" which mixes multiple species of the same genus, Canarium.
Bush tucker, also called bush food, is any food native to Australia and historically eaten by Indigenous Australians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but it can also describe any native flora, fauna, or fungi used for culinary or medicinal purposes, regardless of the continent or culture. Animal native foods include kangaroo, emu, witchetty grubs and crocodile, and plant foods include fruits such as quandong, kutjera, spices such as lemon myrtle and vegetables such as warrigal greens and various native yams.
The Big Pineapple is a heritage-listed tourist attraction and big thing at Nambour Connection Road, Woombye, Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Peddle Thorp and Harvey, Paul Luff, and Gary Smallcombe and Associates. It is also known as Sunshine Plantation. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 6 March 2009.
Macadamia oil, also known as macadamia nut oil, is a non-volatile oil extracted from the nuts of the macadamia tree, indigenous to Australia. This oil is used in culinary applications as a frying or salad oil, and in cosmetics for its emollient properties and as a fragrance fixative.
Macadamia integrifolia is a small to medium-sized tree, growing to 15 metres in height. Native to rainforests in south east Queensland and northern New South Wales, Australia. Common names include macadamia, smooth-shelled macadamia, bush nut, Queensland nut, Bauple nut and nut oak.
Acrocercops chionosema is a moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is known from Queensland and New South Wales, Australia.
A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus Juglans, particularly the Persian or English walnut, Juglans regia. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an involucre and thus not morphologically part of the carpel; this means it cannot be a drupe but is instead a drupe-like nut.
The H2 Hinde Tree is a heritage-listed tree of the species Macadamia integrifolia at Colliston, 926 Gilston Road, Gilston, City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 14 August 2008.
Macadamia jansenii is an endangered and poisonous tree in the flowering plant family Proteaceae, native to Queensland in Australia. It was only described as a new species in 1991, being first brought to the attention of plant scientists in 1983 by Ray Jansen, a sugarcane farmer and amateur botanist from South Kolan in Central Queensland. Closely related to the cultivated and recently domesticated macadamia nut, it has small 11–16 mm diameter nuts that have a smooth, hard, brown shell enclosing a cream, globulose kernel that is bitter and inedible. In the wild it grows as a multi-stemmed 6–9m tall evergreen tree, with leaves having entire margins and generally in whorls of 3. An extremely rare species, it was discovered as a single population of around 60 plants in the wild in Eastern Australia. In 2018 about 60 new mature Macadamia jansenii trees were located, although a quarter of these were destroyed in the bush fires of 2019.
Canarium indicum, known as galip nut, is a mainly dioecious tree native in eastern Melanesia. It is usually found in rainforests, secondary forests, old garden areas, around villages and settlements. It is also used as a shade tree, as a windbreak and in agroforestry. Canarium is important in the world food system as it can be used as a food and timber source, in traditional medicine, intercropping and agroforestry.